Welcome to a wild ride through ideas. In this show I am suggesting that the multiple fractures associated with strike slip faulting can accomplish the release of hydrocarbons from shale to overlapping sands. Of course if we were not conditioned by conventional thinking, these ideas would not seem wild at all. Strike slip faults are a fact of life where continental drift is present. I show later where they provide paths for salt to flow into domes, so there is no reason the same thing would not be true for hydrocarbons. To introduce the concept of the strike slip I start with a South Louisiana example where they are fairly obvious. I continue with another gulf coast example where I hypothesized their relationship with salt dome formation. Of course this concept is central to the importance I now place on fracturing. I finish with work I did in the North Sea, which I think should be topical considering today’s dim picture there. Hopefully, you will agree that these three samples prove that parallel faulting exists. The fact that they were not recognized by previous processors illustrates the difficulty of seeing them seismically. The fact is that extensive lateral movement often produces confusing patterns. All these results employ advanced noise removal as well as my sonic log simulation inversion and integration logic. The stratigraphic clarity provided by these processes is vital to establishing the patterns that make the complex faulting believable. This presentation is on the faults themselves however. As I mention on the next slide, geologic integrity within the individual fault splinters provides the needed logical proof. Please take the time to study these interpretations with that in mind.

Processes should be judged by results - One could spend hours studying what there is to learn from this display of a “simulated sonic log” section. First, notice how bed thicknesses make the “stratigraphic differences” across the strike slip faults very evident. To me, as an interpreter, this is vital. Strike slip faults are a result of shallower beds being torn apart as a result of deep plate movement (continental drift). They are a given fact of geological life. The reason they have been missed by the industry is that they often are very hard to see. Where the stratigraphy is regionally regular, no vertical throw may result, making patterns very hard to establish. When one can’t see a pattern between the bursts of energy, it is normal to assume we are looking at noise. Each fault block in this pattern exhibits stratigraphic consistency within itself. Before the pattern was set it looked like an unconnected hodgepodge. Much of my later efforts to improve resolution were prompted by the need to see the fault patterns I was sure existed. My time domain inversion and subsequent sonic log simulation are vital parts of this improvement, and that Is why I place this subject first on the list. Next you might observe that the changes in amplitude now seem to make structural trapping sense. This ties into my claim that direct reservoir spotting is now a good possibility! Now click on oval to start loading the continuation, then go back and re-read this important stuff. Out of the box logic takes some explaining, so be patient.