Workshop Course
Introduction to Modern Marine Seismic Surveys: Scope, design and implementation
Wednesday, 4 September 2024
*This course is included in the workshop registration fee.
Course Description
Seismic surveys are used to map the subsurface using sound as a source. These subsurface maps display geological features and, in some cases, can be used to derive rock properties. Two of the most important uses of seismic surveys are to explore for, or monitor, oil and gas (O&G) reservoirs and more recently green-house gas (GHG) sequestration sites.
We usually differentiate between various stages in the life cycle of a field’s development (whether it is for O&G extraction, or GHG injection), from exploration to production. Survey objectives, and therefore the selected technologies often vary between different stages, but they also vary between different geological settings, water depth, etc. Driven by a preference for ‘advantaged’ barrels, offshore O&G exploration tends to move into deeper water and more complex geological settings. On the contrary, driven by the proximity of customers and infrastructure, CO2 sequestration sites are often planned close to shore, sometimes in (ultra) shallow water.
These complexities, combined with recent developments in processing, velocity model building and imaging technologies place high demands on the design of seismic surveys. The availability of increasingly advanced processing and acquisition technologies greatly enhances our ability to design bespoke surveys for addressing ever increasing subsurface and operational complexities. If we want to extract the full value of the seismic value chain, we must understand how a design impacts our ability to process, image and interpret the data and how we can optimize a survey. Besides familiarity with traditional survey design principles, this requires a basic understanding of these modern processing and acquisition technologies.
Course outline
In this one-day course we will review the design and implementation of modern marine seismic surveys in the context of subsurface objectives, available acquisition, processing and imaging technologies, and environmental, financial, and operational constraints. The structure of the course follows roughly the stages of a seismic acquisition project:
Define scope and subsurface objectives
Overall objective of seismic surveys
Exploration, appraisal, development, monitoring and CCS
How to translate subsurface requirements into technical requirements?
Preliminary assessment of operational constraints
Available data inspection and review of applicable technologies
What to look for in legacy data?
Velocities: from velocity models and wells
Marine acquisition technologies
Survey design
Description and derivation of survey design parameters
Offsets, subsurface and surface sampling, bandwidth
Relation to processing and imaging technologies
Implementation
Implementing survey design parameters using the selected technologies
Seismic surveys and the environment
Survey cost/duration
During the course, participants will be taken through an actual survey design problem. Throughout the various sections we will pause and reflect on how the discussed topics can be readily applied in the design. Participants will be encouraged to actively participate in the discussions.
Meet the Instructor
Xander is a Principal Operations Geophysicist and Principal Science Expert at Shell Global Solutions International BV in The Hague, The Netherlands. He joined Shell in 2007, after having obtained a MSc degree in Applied Geophysics and a PhD in Applied Mathematics, both from Delft University in The Netherlands. He spent more than a decade in exploratory and geophysical research roles, including 5 years leading the seismic acquisition research team. Xander spent the past 5 years in Geophysical Operations supporting seismic surveys globally with a focus on developing and deploying new technologies and improving seismic delivery.