Print this pageAAPG GEO 2010 Middle East
Geoscience Conference & Exhibition
Innovative Geoscience Solutions – Meeting Hydrocarbon Demand in Changing Times
March 7-10, 2010 – Manama, Bahrain
Capitalizing from the Benefits of Hybrid-System Acquisition Crews: A Mega-Channel to Multi-Target
(1) Acoustic Geophysical Services, Golden, CO.
(2) Ascend Geo, Golden, CO.
Historically, land seismic acquisition has been driven by logistical constraints rather than by the true geologic imaging requirements. Although the initial ideas that motivate the shooting of a land seismic survey are geologic in nature, most designs are driven ultimately by the practical limitations of the equipment being used and the cost to deploy that equipment.
Cable-based systems are, in general, geared for single parameter shooting designs. The technical complexity and operational constraints of cable-based systems significantly inhibit the ability of a seismic crew to acquire these complex designs effectively. The adaption of cable-based systems to dynamic design requirements introduces undesirable operational inefficiencies, resulting in an increase in equipment, manpower and cost.
There are two efficient ways to achieve multi-parameter shooting: deploying independent nodes on top of an existing cable-based design or deploying all independent nodes. Deploying recording stations which are independent of cable constraints enables more complex and multi-parameter designs. Independent recording nodes allow designs to be more geologically-driven for multiple objectives without the constraints of channel limitations, cultural and environmental issues that inhibit cable deployment.
Cable-free equipment was integrated successfully into to a relatively large cable-based system acquiring data in southeast Hungary near the small town of Gyula. One of the benefits of a passive system is that integration, or slaving, into other systems is an easy process. The case history to be presented will discuss the process of integration of the two systems in detail.
There has been much discussion of the need of for mega-channel crews (>50,000 channels) to be able to solve the type of imaging problems the industry expects to face over the coming years. Hybrid-crews represent an obvious pathway that can capitalize on the advantages of both cable and cable-free systems. Further, concepts like Dynamic Patch Roll that utilize the flexibility of a cable-free system to create a patch within a patch to lower the amount of total equipment deployed provide a cost effective method for achieving the imaging goals required by these mega-channel surveys. By utilizing the advantages of hybrid-crews, the focus moves away from mega-channel and more onto mega-trace.