A StatoilHydro-Schlumberger project aims to merge seismic processing and interpretation as a way of maximising seismic data quality in accordance with specific end-user needs.
The computer-intensive job of seismic data processing and re-processing is traditionally done by contractors, with only limited involvement from oil company interpreters.
But this is about to change because the capabilities of standard seismic processing have not only been exhausted, but have also revealed the need for a more user-involved approach to ensure proper seismic data quality which accords with their specifications.
These four seismic images have been produced by processing the same dataset in different ways. The sandstone-filled channel is most clearly defined in Cube 2, whereas the fault is best defined in Cube 3.
StatoilHydro’s research on interpretive processing therefore aims to make seismic data problem-specified by bringing processing and interpretation geoscientists together.
They can then work on each step, with testing and processing decisions steered by data interpretation – for example, the need to improve the definition of a sandstone channel or the configuration of a major fault.
In other words, optimum seismic data quality can only be realised by effectively merging processing and interpretation work, which was hitherto done separately in consecutive stages.
Exploiting developments in high performance computing also makes it possible to generate a variety of designer seismic data cubes, each of which reveals different geological features and characteristics.
StatoilHydro staff have teamed up with data processing experts from Schlumberger’s WesternGeco division to accelerate progress and establish an optimal procedure.
