ABSTRACT: Use of Modeling to Fit Marine Seismic Acquisition to the Geologic Problem

FRANZ, WARREN, BHP Petroleum, Houston, TX

Explorationists cannot control what formations overly their exploration targets, yet the properties of these formations can greatly affect the quality of seismic data obtained at the objective. A seismic acquisition system tuned for one geologic province may prove inadequate for a new environment. Therefore, when changing exploration areas, the explorationist may need to select new acquisition parameters tailored for new problems.

This paper describes the use of several tools that can help the explorationist determine how acquisition parameters and the local geology affect data quality. Ray-trace modeling is one tool that can be used to determine what portion of energy radiated from the seismic source can actually reach the objective and return. Full elastic wave modeling, a second tool, can help the explorationist understand how various modes of unwanted energy are generated. The synthetic data generated from full elastic wave modeling can also be used to test various processing methods for attenuating the unwanted energy. A third tool, acquisition system modeling, can compute actual performance characteristics of a marine acquisition system. Information generated from these modeling exercises can help the exp orationist choose an acquisition systems that best meets the exploration needs. If no available system has acceptable properties, forward modeling can be employed to test new alternatives until an adequate match to desired specifications is obtained. This information can be used to modify acquisition techniques so they will be more effective in the new area.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91015©1992 AAPG International Conference, Sydney, N.S.W., Australia, August 2-5, 1992 (2009)