Enhanced density estimation from prestack inversion of multicomponent seismic data

Using 3C-2D seismic data in the Albacora block, Campos Basin, Brazil, we analyzed the potential of multicomponent data for density esti-mation by simultaneously inverting prestack compressional and mode-converted seismic data. Initial forward modeling using the available well logs shows that small changes in density at the reservoir level affect the PS reflectivity more than PP. The inversion engine uses a global optimization algorithm with a nonlinear cost function to simultaneously invert a number of in-put stacks to an Earth model. Inverting solely PP data has shown a lower cor-relation between the estimated density and the measured log in comparison to jointly inverting both PP and PS data. The results also show that adding PS information in the inversion pro-cess improves the density inversion bandwidth and, consequently, inversion resolution. © 2010 Society of Exploration Geophysicists.