UTP Geophysics Lecture Series

Advances in Seismic Acquisition

by

Prof Dr Deva Ghosh

1
Types of Seismic Acquisition
 Marine surface techniques

 Land surface techniques

 Transition zone

 Borehole seismic

 Ocean bottom cable

 Multi-component

 Time lapse 2
 Marine Seismic Data Processing Workflow
Land (Survey – SPS)
P
DATA
R CONDITIONING
S
I
O
C
Marine (NAVIGATION – P190)
G E
N S
• Deconvolution
A S
Land • Winner filter (logo)
L I • Static CORRECTION
N • Weathered Layer
G Correction
•
WAVE FIELD •
Refraction Static
Correction
COMPENSATION SRME
• Designature Domain
SIGNAL PROCESSING Marine • Deghosthing
• Deconvolution Tau-P
• Winer Filter (Period Domain
of Multiple)
• Multiple Elimitination K-F
P
Domain
R
O
A Gather (Shot, Receiver, CDP, Offset) Give AVO
C
V information. Same for both land and marine
E
E
A
S IMAGING ETC
S
L
I
N Structure Map. Information of Interpretation
G
 Marine Acquisition

Sea bottom

Subsurface interface

Common Shot gather

4
Common Midpoint Gather

“Primary” reflections

Common Mid Point (CMP) gather

5
2D SEISMIC OPERATION

6
3D MARINE SEISMIC ACQUISITION

7
3D MARINE SEISMIC ACQUISITION

Conventional
Cube: 6.25m x 18.75m bins
by 6,000m offset
8
 3D Acquisition Techniques
• 2 source, 6 streamer configuration
• 12 lines shot in 1 boat pass
Sea surface

Sea bed

9
 Marine - Recording Equipment
 Streamer

10
 Marine - Towing Device

 Boat

11
Marine - Recording Equipment

 Streamer

12
 DETECTOR BUBBLE

ACOUSTIC TRANSPONDER
FOR DETECTOR POSITIONING
13
Back deck cable storage

14
Marine Source : Air Gun

15
 MARINE

3D Marine Vietnam, 2002

Block 1 & 2
25 April – 23rd July 2002
Background

• A high resolution, high density 3D marine survey employing

the first time with 12 streamer was conducted in Vietnam
offshore block 1 & 2. Convert about 1900sqkm full field at
USD 13.7 million. Cost per 51km is about US$ 7231.
• A total saving of about US$ 1 million was made by using 12
streamers instead of 6 streams. Because of several logistic
and HSE problem hard to be resolved including radar day &
night vigilance of fishing activity, it is required to deploy 10
escort vessels.
• The acquisition prove growth & highlight High Resolution 3D
survey is to reassess the remaining potential of discovered
fields such as Ruby, Emerald, Topaz Nort and to better image
structural & stratigraphic feature in basement and in the
clastics. Secondly to jump start exploration phase of new a
creases over Amethysts, Garnet & Beryl.

16
 SEISMIC SURVEY : VIETNAM
3D MARINE

Vietnam Hi Res 3D Survey employing 12 streamers (Top). Such Surveys acquire large
volumes of data cost effectively a.They are hazardous and involve constant monitoring of
high fishing activity by Radar (left) even at night such as not to miss the lone boat (right)
17
Vietnam 3D

825 meters

18
First 12 streamer hi-resolution hi- survey in Petronas Carigali shot by P.G.S in 2002
Vietnam 3D Marine Acquisition Parameters
Vessel M/V Ramform Challenger
Technique 12 streamers, Dual sources
Nominal Fold Coverage 64 fold
Record Length 5 seconds
Sampling Rate 2 ms
Low Cut Filter * 3 Hz 6dB/oct
High Cut Filter * 65% to 85% of Nyquist Frequency
Group Interval 12.5 m
Shooting Interval 18.75 Flip Flop
Line Spacing 18.75 m
Shooting Direction NW/SE

Recording System Syntrak-960-24-bit

Streamer Type Teledyne Digital LDA/RDH
Streamer Length 4800 m
Towing Depth 7±1m
Syntrak-960-24-bit 4800 m
Teledyne Digital LDA/RDH 7±1m

Energy Source Sodera G - Gun

- Volume 3090 cu. in.
- Pressure 2000 psi
- Signal Strength (P-P) 106.5 bar-m
- Primary To Bubble 36.2:1
- Towing Depth 6±1

Depth Transducer Digicourse 5011 @ 300m intervals

19
Compass Section Digicourse 5011 @ 300m intervals m
Time Analyses : 3D Marine Seismic, Offshor e Vietnam, 2002

Rec or ding
938.336
44.9%

Mob
200.866
9.6%

Ex t. Line c hange Inf ill

101.05 327.683
4.8% 15.7%
Ins trument
Under s hoot
115.632 79.417
5.5%
3.8%
Weather Fis hing
106.399
218.617
5.1% 10.5%
Hours Since Mobilization 25th April, 18:50 hrs
Total: 2088

Expenditure : 3D Marine Seismic, Offshore Vietnam, 2002

VAT :
$1 ,2 49,34 6.09
9.1%
Escor t Vess el : F is her i es :
$3 4,941 .1 8
$2 ,5 74,16 0.00
0.3%
18.7%
M ob/D emob P :
QC :
$7 00,00 0.00
$1 06,47 0.00
5.1%
0.8%
Ext. Li ne C hang e :
$4 06,43 2.95
3.0%
Onboar d Pr oc ess ing :
$2 50,00 0.00
1.8%
Other R ei mbur sable :
$2 21,12 2.14 Pr imar y Pr og :
1.6% $4 ,9 06,19 6.30
U ndr shoot Pr og : 35.7%
$4 76,50 2.00
3.5%
C har geabl e Standby : Infil l :
$1 ,2 51,31 1.60 $1 ,5 66,32 4.74
9.1% 11.4%

T otal: $13,742,806.99 20
 Vietnam 3D
High Fishing Activity Shallow Water Zone
Areas
3D Marine Seismic Acquisition Programme
Completed Lines For Prospect Period
Prim e lines Infill lines Res hoot lines
Unders hoot lines Preplot lines Coverage Polygon
RBDP-A FPSO Galves ton Key
1,190,000

1,180,000

1,170,000

1,160,000

1,150,000
Northing

1,140,000

1,130,000

1,120,000

1,110,000

1,100,000
425,000 435,000 445,000 455,000 465,000 475,000

Easting

Highlights:
 Significant fishing activities, increased safety risk to fishermen and overall operations.
 One incident (yet to be classified), 17th July 2002, small fishing vessel struck superwide wire (picture attached) of
Ramform Challenger, and capsized. Six crew members were rescued. Drastic mitigation measures are needed.
 Due to the above, close to 7 % of the remaining survey area was truncated, to steer clear of the highly congested
fishing zones. Even with 10 escort vessels, the number of small unlit fish boats are rather high. The risk of a second
incident is very real.
 Moreover, new shallow water peaks (less than 20 m) were discovered in this area, which leads to significant steerage
issues, if there was to be any emergency maneuvers. 21

 Area is reduced to 1894.45 sq.. km full-fold from 2026 sq.. km full fold.
 HI-RES 3D SEISMIC

Q-MARINE : THE FUTURE OF SEISMIC (WESTERN GECO)

Enhanced applications of seismic technology such as imaging for production

well placement, pore pressure prediction, and monitoring fluid fronts require
extremely accurate data. Q-Marine’s fully calibrated single-sensor system
delivers:
 Uncompromised 3D wavefield acquisition
 Dense inline and crossline spatial sampling
 Flexibility in streamer positioning for optimized wavefield sampling
 Accurate positioning for advanced imaging and moveout correction
 Intelligent noise filtering
 Improved signal fidelity
 Shot-by-shot designature
Q-Marine provides the critical factors needed for enhanced reservoir definition
and successful 4D surveys . low noise, high-resolution sampling, and
repeatable measurements through its unique calibrated and controllable
source, sensor, and positioning systems
22
Q-Marine Property
seismic analysis
data from the
directly 3D model
identifying derived
oil/water using the
(A) and Q-Marine
oil/gas (B) data
contacts

Applications
Q-Marine reservoir characterization Higher resolution data for more reliable processing and inversion
results

Q-Marine provides the critical factors needed for enhanced reservoir characterization and commercially
successful 4D surveys:
• Seismic data with broader frequency bandwidth and higher resolution
• Increased signal-to-noise ratio, which also aids interpreters in attribute analysis
• Reliable amplitude information for true quantitative reservoir property prediction
• Unique calibration, accurate positioning, and dynamic streamer steering for repeatability

A tie between acoustic impedance derived from down-hole and Q-Marine measurements is shown in
Figure 5. Broadband data significantly improves the results of the inversion process. Q-Marine revealed a
fault with a throw of less than 15 m and identified individual sand bodies within the main target zone. This
improved information about the reservoir aided in generating a more complicated and accurate reservoir
model. Newly identified reservoir characteristics led to the repositioning of the development well in zones
with better reservoir thickness and distant from the fault.
23
Q-Marine repeatability
The only truly 4D Ready system
The first Q-on-Q time-lapse monitoring survey was completed in the summer
of 2003. Over 90% of the survey was shot with a feather match within one
degree of the 2001 survey. Q-Marine repeatability and rapid Q processing led
to interpreted time-lapse effects that prompted a revision of the field drilling
program within a month of acquisition.

System Details
Q-Marine technology
Q-Marine technology is the result of many years of detailed analysis to
identify the key sources of noise and error that impact seismic data quality
and repeatability. Q-Marine technology has four main components:

24
System calibration - streamer steering - positioning accuracy

Fully calibrated sources, receivers, and positioning, in combination with streamer steering,
allow Q-Marine surveys to be significantly more repeatable than conventional acquisition.
Navigation data from Q surveys can be programmed to dictate shot and streamer positioning
on subsequent Q surveys
25
 Q-MARINE ST JOSEPH, SHELL SABAH
Advantages for Q marine seismic over conventional seismic are:

• minimise undershoot area by approaching as close as 50m to platforms due to streamer

steerability compared to 500m radius for conventional streamers operations
St Joseph – coverage without undershoot

Nort Nort
h h

150m exclusion zone

1000m exclusion zone
– Q marine
• Higher density data required for the shallow objectives in 300ms – 1000ms missing in conventional seismic
Missing data beneath - 1000m exclusion Missing data beneath - 150m exclusion
Conventional
-obstruction zone Q - marine
obstruction zone
acquisition Platform Platform

~0.15s TWT

1000m ~ 0.3s TWT

150m

~0.6s TWT

Missing shallow data

– conventional
superimposed on St
Joseph section
Missing shallow data
– Q marine
superimposed on St
26
~ 1s TWT Joseph section
 Narrow Azimuth Multi Azimuth Wide Azimuth Rich Azimuth

Multi Azimuth marine acquisition and fold

coverage for different acquisition designs
27
Acquisition designs for the four different surveys

28
Subsalt Imaging – The RAZ-WAZ Experience

Depth slices of modeled data migration using simulated, narrow-, wide-

and rich azimuth acquisition geometries. Notice the improvement in
resolution, especially of the embedded grid of spheres from narrow
azimuth
29
(a) How to determine the diameter
of the first Fresnel Zone for
coincident source and detector
(such as common midpoint
sections simulate)

(b) Showing the second Fresnel

Zone (shaded annular ring)

(c) Fresnel Zone size depends

on frequency for wavelength

30
 Vertical (Temporal) Resolution Limits
Resolved Layer Resolved Layer Unresolved Layer No Layer
(Detected)
Full Wavelength Half Wavelength Quarter Wavelength Single Reflection

31
Seismic parameters defining seismic resolution and data
quality

32
33
 Land Seismic ( Vibrator )
 Components
 Positioning
 Sensor
 Source
 Recording
 Deploying source and
receivers
 People to work the
equipment
Land Seismic Data Processing Workflow
 SEISMIC SURVEY : YEMEN
LAND (Dynamite )

Difficult and rapid fluctuation of elevation makes acquisition in Yemen

“wadis” and “Jebel” extremely difficult. Data quality suffers from these
problems.
 SEISMIC LAND STATICS ISSUES

MUBARAK : TIME IMPRINT YEMEN SEISMIC

BEFORE

AFTER
Blue : Wadi (soft)
Brown : Jabal (Hard)

Seismic data good penetration in Wadi (valleys).

Poor in Jabal (high) serious reliability of closure

FALSE STRUCTURE
 3D LAND MUBARAK
PAKISTAN

Vibroseis – Crew
A series of four vibrators are used in line to form
shot array

Dynamite – Crew
flush-drilling of shot hole for loading of dynamite

Inspection of Geophones
 Mubarak, Pakistan
2D vs 3D
2D
MUBARAK BLOCK-PAKISTAN REHMAT-2 E
2D SEISMIC LINE

K-55
K-45

2D DATA QUALITY AT
K-55 & 45 IS VERRY POOR

3D
MUBARAK BLOCK-PAKISTAN E
REHMAT-2
3D SEISMIC LINE
3D shows marked
improvement in data quality.
Allows to identify facies
difference between Rahmat 1 K-55
& 2 (not shown) and explains K-45
poor productivity at Rahmat 2.

3D DATA QUALITY AT
K-55 & 45 IS FAIR TO GOOD
 Mubarak, Pakistan
3D SURVEY DETAILS
A)Introduction

The Mubarak 3D seismic acquisition program design and layout was devised by ENI (partners). They submitted a final report in
February 2004 detailing the acquisition parameters and those items they thought required testing. The final parameters chosen
are listed below and include those parameters that were tested in the field ( in red) in August 2004.

B) Acquisition Layout
3825 m from gp center to gp center 25m - 0 - 25m 3825 m

350m

300m

Receiver lines
300m

Pakistan, Mubarak 3D Acquisition Template Shot lines

Receiver lines 300m apart, shot lines 350m apart, Pakistan,Mubarak 3D Seismic Survey
50m shot and receiver spacing Acquisition Layout

D) Acquisition Parameter Tests

The following items were tested in the field:
1) Geophone array configuration
2) Dynamite charge size
3) Vibroseis parameters

a) Sweep length
b) Sweep frequency
c) Number of sweeps
d) Type of sweep
e) Array length
f) Move-up

E) Survey progress as of 17th Sept 2004

Land Seismic - Survey
Land Sensor - Geophone
Land Sources - Vibrators
TZ Source - Airgun on Pontoon
Airgun Array during shot
 Array Response
Propagation delay
across array
Array response
to noise

Horizontally Average
propagating signals
noise to form
array Seismic arrays improve
data quality by attenuating
noise in horizontal plane
relative to reflected signals
Geophone array in the vertical plane.

Average
signals
to form
array

Array response
No propagation delay
to signal
Vertically across array
propagating
signal
Source and Receiver Arrays
FRACTURED RESERVOIR – SHEAR SPLIT

UNCRACKED
CRACKED

Schematic illustration of shear wave splitting

-On entering a region of effective anisotropy, such as a rock containing aligned cracks, the shear wave
necessarily splits into phases with the fixed polarizations and velocities determined by the particular
direction of the ray propagating through the anisotropic symmetry.
-On returning to an isotropic region, or on being recorded, a characteristic pattern is retained in the 3-D
shear wave train (from Crampin, 1986).
 3D-2C OBC FRACTURE DETECTION

SHEAR WAVE SPLITTING

FRACTURED
RESERVOIR
DELENEATION

RADIAL TRANSVERSE

When shear wave hits a fractured reservoir. (igneous, basement as in Vietnams or quartzite sandstone reservoir in
Algiers) it splits into 2 sheer components (bi-fergence) as shown in figure. Mapping the two sheer wave will outline
fracture orientation.
3D – 4C OBC for Vietnam fractured basement s being considered.
Ocean Bottom Multicomponent
Acquisition
Ocean bottom cable (OBC) seismic technology is one of the few niche technologies that has been identified by
PETRONAS. It has application to image seismic waves below gas clouds and also can delineate the fracture patterns
in fractured reservoirs. Examples are the basement plays in Vietnam, and fractured sandstone reservoirs in Algeria.
In terms of physics, it utilizes the mode phenomena. Whenever we use p-wave for seismic exploration, at the
reflection interface, shear wave converted energy is produced, whereas the p-waves are attenuated in gas reservoirs.
The shear waves on the other hand are not affected. Hence, in many of our fields like in BDO, Padas, Sepat, Lahor,
Melur, Tangga-tangga Barat and Bujang, the gas results in poor imaging. Applying the OBC hence will give a correct
picture of the subsurface below the gas clouds. Whenever a shear wave hits fractured reservoirs, it splits into 2
components – a fast shear parallel to the fractures, and a slow shear perpendicular to the fracture. Hence, by
measuring these 2 components, we can map the direction of the fractures. Last advantage of OBC, since we lay
down the cables on the sea floor to record the shear wave, which does not transmit through water, we can benefit by
laying cables close the platform, which would otherwise not be possible with towed streamers. The modern trend to
use standalone sensors called nodes instead of laying cable on seabed. All these technologies have tremendous applications towards time-
lapse seismic 4D.
Imaging through Gas cloud with
Converted Shear Wave
Sea Floor 4 component Seismic acquisition. The 4
components
• P wave hydrophone . Pressure
• P wave geophone . Velocity
• S wave geophone . Longitudes
• S wave geophone . Transverse

AIRGUN SEABED
S P
Figure shows how shear wave is
generated from a P wave impinging
on the reflector. However note that
sheer wave cannot pass through
water and hence we have to record SEA LEVEL GEOPHONE MULTIPLE
sheer wave on the seabed as shown HORZ VERT HYDROPHONE
WATER SEABED
in figure.
 OBC TECHNOLOGY

P wave Shear wave

P wave attenuated by shallow gas and cannot image deeper reflector. Sheer wave
on the other hand is not affected by gas and can image this reflectors.
 SEISMIC SURVEY :
Tanjung Jabung, Indonesia
TRANSITION ZONE
(LAND, OBC, MARINE)
Cable deploying boat Vessel with towed air gun and seismic cable
Land operations 2 types of drilling
Acoustic boat
catamarans

Cable retrieval boat

Navigation boat
Shot point line
Cable deploying boat Shot point
Airgun boat
Receiver lineline boat
Airgun
Receiver Catarmarine
Simple drilling
Tug boat + Recording barge Tug boat
platform
Depth
Depth-1m
-0
1m
0 Depth Recording
-1
Depth--3m
3m
1 Barge
Depth
Depth >3m
>3m
Land TZ area OBC
TZ area cover
OBC Towed cable
water TZ depth from
Depth 0 – 3m Offshore
Land
0 m to 3 m Depth >3m
Depth >7.5m
 Tanjung Jabung 4 in 1
Seismic Surveys
OBC-2C operation
(green lines)

TZ operation
(red lines)

Land operation
(black lines)

Land, TZ & OBC-2C

Towed streamer method

 Tanjung Jabung
Data Merge

A B

AFTER

OBC-2C Data
A B A B

BEFORE

Merged
Note : Data in mute zone not shown but used in merge
 BDO/3D-2C

Test Acquisition Parameter:

• The Gun Depth of MV Hans Tide (1780 cubic

inch)
• The Gun Depth of Bubble (780 cubic inch)
• Matching filter in 2D sense of small gun boat
and big gun boat for processing purposes

Acquisition Parameters

Shot Line Interval : 200 metres

Receiver Line Interval : 300 metres
Shot Interval : 25 metres
Receiver Interval : 50 metres
Survey Progress as of 03 October 2005
Nominal Fold : 84
Number Of Active Cable : 4 cables lines per patch
Channels per active cable : 168 (8.4 km length)
Minimum Offset : 27.94 metres
Maximum Offset : 4484.65 metres
Cable Depth : On Seabed
Record Length : 6 Seconds
Source Depth : 5 metres for 1780 cubic inch source
: 2 metres for 780 cubic inch source
: 1.5 metres for 780 cubic inch source
Bin Size : 25 metres (inline) x 12.5 metres (crossline)
Roll (receivers) : Crossline all 4 receiver lines & Inline receiver line roll 200 metres
Shooting methodology : Orthogonal
BDO 3D-2C
F) Vessels Use During Operation

Mv Hans Tide – 1780 cubic inch Bubble – 780 cubic inch

(big source vessel) (small source vessel)

TZ1 – TZ7
(Cable Deployment vessel)

Geocat
(Support / Trouble-shooting vessel) Mv Bondex Jaya-1
(Recording vessel)
 BDO 3D-2C
H) Operational challenges associated with log debris, tankers, fishing, pipe-laying and crude oil evaluation actitivities are being mitigated with
full cooperation from local authorities i.e Fishery, Marine, Forestry Departments, Miri Marine Police, Miri Resident and the Miri Port Authority.
However, the acquisition operation team are still waiting on the approval from the State Government to conduct the programme over the Siwa
area which falls in the gazetted Miri-Sibuti Coral Reef National Park.

Maintenance work due

to the some challenges
at site

G) Geophone, Hydrophone and Summation of both Components (Geophone data noisy)

NOISY DATA

Geophone Hydrophone Summation Geophone + Hydrophone

 BDO 3D-2C SEISMIC SURVEY DESIGN
Shooting method used
was roll-in and roll-out
patch method. Two
source lines were set at
200 meter apart. There
Swath no. 2 was no overlap between
Swath no. 1 two adjacent swaths.

Maximum offset value

Extended salvo
shooting template
for BDO 3D 2C
seismic survey
Shot line

During project planning stage several seismic data acquisition geometries were evaluated using MESA Expert version 9.02
seismic design software. It was decided that orthogonal geometry (Refer to Fig. 2) was the optimum choice. Each shooting
template (salvo) contained four receiver lines with total of 672 receivers in the full patch and two adjacent receiver lines
were set at 300 meters apart.
As in any OBC seismic survey where airgun as seismic source, extended salvo method was preferred. Total of 96 shot
stations (2.375km length) along each salvo was selected.
Receiver (dual-component receiver) station interval was set at 50 meters apart while shot station interval was at 25 meters.
This design generates rectangular bin dimension where 12.5m length is along source line or crossline direction and 25m
length is along receiver line or inline direction.
With the above design, minimum near offset is 27.95 meters while maximum far offset is 4484.64 meters
Transition Zone Acquisition
Land Transition Zone Marine

Marsh Phones
Geo-Hazard
 Geo-Hazard Technology

hydrates

Fluid Expulsion

Shallow
water flow hydrates

Hydrates
hydrates

Shallow gas

Salt Induced Fluid expulsion

Seabed Morphology Shale diapirs
Biogenic Gas /
craters/pockmarks
Slumping
GEOHAZARD CLASSIFICATION FLOWCHART

SHALLOW GAS
FLUID EXPULSION
MUD VOLCANOES
POCKMARKS
SHALLOW WATER FLOW
SAND FLOW
GAS HYDRATES FISSURES
B.S.R. CRATERS

GEO-HAZARD
CLASSIFICATION

SLUMPING
OVER-PRESSURES LANDSLIDES
BLOW-OUT FAULTS GORGES
INSTABILITY
 GEOHAZARD ANALYSIS

HAZARD ROCK PROPERTY METHODOLOGY

Shallow Gas Velocity / Absorption /Poisson's Amplitude,AVO, Wipeout,Time

Ratio Sag

Gas Hydrate (BSR) Velocity/Impedance Reflectivity, Polarity , Interval

Velocity & Inversion

Shallow Water Flow Under compaction, Pore pressure Pore-pressure Prediction,

AVO.4C
Inversion

Slumping, Landslide, Faulting Coherence cubes, Time slices 3D

Discontinuity Visualization

Overpressure Vertical effective stress Velocity Inversion and Basin

modeling
GEOHAZARD IMAGES GAS
CHIMNEY

• Gas chimney from deep

level penetrated through
the overpressured glided
sequence above the main
decollement surface. This
being acted as pressure
drain.
 Abnormal

Normal Pore Pressure Abnormal Pore Pressure

0.433 - 0.465 psi/ft gp > normal
 Segama – Predicted and Measured
Pore Pressure

The onset of
overpressure
have been
accurately
predicted
 GEOHAZARD IMAGES
MALAYSIAN OFFSHORE

Gas bubbling in water

 GEOHAZARD IMAGES MALAYSIAN OFFSHORE

Gas bubbling in water

Magic of Seismic in detecting Gas bubbling in water

 SINKING OF DRILLING RIG
DUE TO GAS HAZARD
1 2

3 4

Gas escape causes Seawater density to drop resulting in the Platform to sink
Deep Water Platform Horizon
Gas Hydrate
What is Gas Hydrate?

Hydrate is a crystalline
solid consisting of gas
Molecules, usually
methane, each
surrounded by a cage of
water molecules
Gas Hydrates
 Where does the gas come from?
Biogenic Hydrate ~99%
Microbial activity in the upper several hundred meters of shelf sedimen
Thermogenic Hydrate

Thermal breakdown of organic material at greater depths, similar to

conventional oil and gas.