The Interpreter’s Guide to Depth Imaging
By: Dr Scott MacKay
Instructor
Dr Scott MacKay
Duration
Fill in duration day(s)
5-8 March 2024;4:00PM - 8:00PM CET
4 hours/day
Disciplines
Surface Imaging
Course Format
The EAGE Interactive Online Short Courses bring carefully selected courses of experienced instructors from industry and academia online to give participants the possibility to follow the latest education in geoscience and engineering remotely. The courses are designed to be easily digested over the course of two or three days. Participants will have the possibility to interact live with the instructor and ask questions.
Education Packages
To help you save on registration fees and better organize your learning path, we are offering Education Packages for all Interactive Online Short Courses and Online EETs. The packages are valid for a period of 12 months, choose between packages of 3, 5 and 10 credits.
Course Description
An intuitive approach to understanding the interpretive aspects of depth imaging, and the risk of using time migration. The course reviews depth-conversion goals and compares time and depth migration using case histories. Next is an overview of depth migration algorithms in common use, Kirchhoff (ray) versus RTM (wave). Industry methodologies are presented for tomographic velocity updates and full-waveform inversion. This course demonstrates intuitive QCs and provides spreadsheet analysis tools for planning and ensuring realistic velocity-resolution goals and stable imaging solutions. The importance of defining the polarity and phase of the seismic is presented as part of the database-validation process used to identify and remove inconsistencies between interpreted surfaces and well tops before deriving anisotropic parameters. The course continues with a robust approach to well-top calibration of the final depth-imaging deliverables. Freeware is provided to provide a statistical method of depth calibration and estimating depth uncertainty. Finally, there is a review of using attributes from depth imaging for azimuthal stress definition and implementing machine learning for classification and estimation.
Course Objectives
- Appreciate time-to-depth conversion methodologies
• Differentiate between time and depth migration
• Distinguish between commonly used depth migration algorithms
• Appraise methods for velocity updating (tomography/FWI) appropriate for the geology
• Define target velocity resolution for tomography and related imaging grids
• Establish consistency between well tops and horizons in an interpretive database
• Plan and review QCs for iterative velocity updates
• Assess the methods used for determining anisotropic parameters
• Perform well-top calibration of depth-imaging volumes
• Evaluate the validity/uncertainty of advanced seismic attributes
• Review practical aspects of machine-learning classification and estimation.
Course Outline
The following steps in seismic data processing will be discussed:
Participants' Profile
Intended for seismic interpreters incorporating depth imaging into their evaluations, and depth-processing imagers looking to better interact with interpreters. Training is conducted with a combination of lectures, demonstrations, and illustrative datasets.
Prerequisites
Participants should be familiar with the seismic method and have several years of interpretation or processing experience.
About the Instructor
Scott MacKay is an independent consultant with over 40 years of experience. He is an acknowledged expert in interpretation, depth conversion, and depth imaging. After graduating from Colorado School of Mines with an MS in Geophysics he joined a major oil company where he worked ten years as an exploration geophysicist. Scott next joined Schlumberger where he became Manager of R&D and a Schlumberger Advisor. His other roles included World-wide Coordinator for Depth Imaging, Manager of Time-lapse Reservoir Characterization and Multi-component Imaging. During this time, he earned a PhD in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Houston. Scott later became an independent consultant working international interpretation projects and advising on the application of new technologies and their impact on risk reduction. His main specialty is the application of depth imaging to unconventional plays and CCUS planning to quantify reservoir properties. Scott has five U.S. patents and numerous publications on applying innovative and practical solutions to exploration and exploitation challenges.