Total organic carbon content prediction of gas-bearing shale with geophysical methods

According to Jurassic continental shale gas in JN area, the eastern Sichuan Basin, this paper discusses difficulties and problems in predicting total organic carbon content (TOC) of gas-bearing shale, and puts forward some geophysical prediction methods. Based on organic matter characteristics, we first discuss rock physics analysis and TOC prediction conditions, and use a geostatistical inversion to calculate TOC. Using TOC curve building, seismic interpretation, constrained sparse spike inversion and geostatistical inversion, TOC distribution in vertical and lateral are calculated. This technique is successfully applied in JN area and above 90% predictions are proved. The results show that this technique can effectively identify TOC distribution, and will support for horizontal well drilling in shale gas.