GAS HYDRATE DETECTION IN THE IRANIAN SECTOR OF THE OMAN SEA: APPLICATION OF AVO AND SEISMIC PATTERN RECOGNITION METHODS

Gas hydrates attracted worldwide attention because of their potential as a new energy reserve in recent years. Therefore their exploration is essential for the strategic future of the world as a new form of energy. In this research we use pre-stack seismic attributes to identify elastic properties of the host sediments in the vicinity of the gas hydrate zone. AVO analysis of pre-stack seismic data is used as a powerful interpretation technique. Moreover, attributes derived in the post-stack seismic domain are used successfully to make a separation between hydrate and non-hydrate sediments by applying pattern recognition and classification methods. It is found that both AVO analysis and seismic pattern recognition techniques are meaningful on a gas hydrate potential zone in the Oman Sea. An integrated scheme is presented for studying similar areas based on joint use of AVO and post-stack attribute analysis.