Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator Pitfall and Sand Development in Deepwater Environment: A Case Study of ‘Oyo-Dw’ Field Niger Delta, Nigeria

International audience The high cost of deepwater developments and the limited reach from offshore platforms requires operators to have a good understanding of the sand development in delineating reservoirs using Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator. The key aim of this study was to undertake a seismic‐scale qualitative and quantitative analysis of the sand development of suspected reservoir units within the study area in Deep-water environment of Niger Delta using methodologies that can be applied to other continental margins worldwide. This study involved calibration of seismic-to-well tie, determination of spatial distribution patterns of submarine channels; establishment of hydrocarbon control; identification of various channel reservoir units and trapping mechanism over the prospect area. A well “OYO”-10 was drilled with all reservoir levels predicted using Amplitude as Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator analysis draped on structural maps. The results came out with poor sand development in the well drilled and reservoir sand appeared wet in contrast to the expectation of a prolific well. This study shows the complexity of Deepwater using “OYO” wells as a case study of why sand development needed to be investigated before interpreting Direct hydrocarbon indicators in deepwater environment. A 3D seismic dataset and geological data from OML 121 in Deep-water environment of Niger Delta was analyzed to assess and quantify the architectural elements that influence the compartmentalization of delineated reservoir units. The RMS amplitude extraction was done which reveal that the real amplitude is from the meandering X2 channel turbidities reservoirs while variance attribute identified major and micro channels within the study area.