US 11,988,789 B2
Method for hydrocarbon prospecting using an approximated inverse hessian to update a property model
Junzhe Sun, San Jose, CA (US); Valeriy V. Brytik, Houston, TX (US); Lingxiao Zhang, Sugar Land, TX (US); and Erik R. Neumann, Houston, TX (US)
Assigned to ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company, Spring, TX (US)
Filed by ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company, Spring, TX (US)
Filed on Dec. 14, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/247,503.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/962,572, filed on Jan. 17, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2021/0223425 A1, Jul. 22, 2021
Int. Cl. G01V 1/28 (2006.01); G01V 1/36 (2006.01); G06F 30/20 (2020.01)
CPC G01V 1/282 (2013.01) [G01V 1/362 (2013.01); G06F 30/20 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of hydrocarbon prospecting that employs iteratively inverting measured geophysical data in order to generate a subsurface property model of one or more physical properties, the method comprising:
(a) computing, using a subsurface property model, an objective function measuring misfit between model-simulated data and the measured geophysical data;
(b) computing a gradient of the objective function with respect to parameters of the subsurface property model;
(c) preconditioning the gradient;
(d) approximating, using non-stationary matching filters, an inverse Hessian of the subsurface property model;
(e) computing a search direction using the inverse Hessian and the preconditioned gradient;
(f) updating the subsurface property model using the search direction;
(g) analyzing the updated subsurface property model for convergence; and
(h) identifying potential hydrocarbon-bearing formations in a subsurface region with data from the updated subsurface property model.