3-D Seismic -- The Next Step

Woody Nestvold, Ian Jack

Although first implemented in the mid-70's, it wasn't until the late-80's that we saw an almost exponential take-up of the 3D seismic method. This happened mainly in the marine environment, and it happened because of a concerted effort by the service companies driven by strong market demand by client companies.

Recent technical improvements on the marine side have been so significant that we are beginning to see some 3-D surveys re-shot. We show an example of BP's Magnus area, first recorded in 1983 and subsequently in 1992.

We have seen cost and time improvements that are equally significant. The ability to produce a processed 3-D data volume soon after data acquisition has also made a major impact, and this additional product is now routinely used by our interpreters.

Moving to the land environment, which is probably a growth market for 3-D seismic, the 3-D method is mature in several areas, such as in Holland and in the USA Arctic region, but improvements in cost, time, and technical quality are harder to obtain. It's also more difficult to make comparisons, but we can take one particular area and examine it over time, and we have done this for the North Slope between 1977 and 1993.

The paper discusses cost breakdowns and limiting factors involved in land 3-D seismic, and draws conclusions which the industry will find challenging.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995