gsh jan08 news - gshtx.org€¦ · 2 geophysical society of houston january 2008 january 2008...

NEWSLETTERVOL. 42, NO. 5 JANUARY 2008

President’s Column continued on page 6.

Inside This Issue

President’s Column

Rock Physics SIG................. 10Data Processing SIG ............ 11Museum News ..................... 18Calendar of Events .............. 20

Geophysical Auxiliary............. 3Sightings............................... 5Item of Interest...................... 6Membership Report ............... 6

Technical Luncheon continued on page 16.

Technical Luncheonby Fernanda Araujo, Editor

Technical Breakfast

JANUARY 2008SUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAY MONDAYMONDAYMONDAYMONDAYMONDAY TUESDAYTUESDAYTUESDAYTUESDAYTUESDAY WEDNESDAYWEDNESDAYWEDNESDAYWEDNESDAYWEDNESDAY THURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAYTHURSDAY FRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAY SATURDAYSATURDAYSATURDAYSATURDAYSATURDAY

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30 31

TechnicalBreakfast

Rock PhysicsSIG

GSHBoard Meeting

TechnicalLuncheon

WestOmni Palace

TechnicalLuncheonDowntown

PetroleumClub

FebruaryNewsletterDeadline

Technical Breakfast continued on page 5.

The Same Talk, Two Locations

Date 1: January 15, 2008Time: 11:30amLocation 1: Omni Palace

12121 Westheimer Rd.Houston, TX 77077

Date 2: January 16, 2008Time: 11:30amLocation 2: Petroleum Club

800 Bell St.Downtown Houston

Register Online: www.gshtx.orgCost: $30/members pre-registered$35/non-members, non-registrants

Title: Marine Wide AzimuthSeismic: Exploration toProductions

Speaker: Tim Summers, BP Exploration

Abstract:The ability to reduce risk and uncertaintyacross the full life cycle of an asset isdirectly correlated to creating an accuratesubsurface image that enhances our

Date: January 09, 2008

Time: 7:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m.Breakfast & Social7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.Presentation and Q&A

Location: Fugro Building6100 Hillcroft, suite 100Houston, Texas 77274

Note: Please RSVP to Liz Ivie713-369-5863 [email protected]

Title: Anisotropic VelocityModeling and Pre-StackDepth Migration in theDeepwater Gulf of Mexico

Speaker: Scott L. NealChevron NorthAmerica E&P,Houston, Texas

Abstract:Seismic imaging in the Deepwater Gulfof Mexico (GoM) has been, and continuesto be, a challenge for all phases ofexploration and development.Allochthonous salt, lateral velocitygradients, and highly variable stratigraphy

NEW YEAR’SDAY

Party aside... New Year’s Eveis a time to look back on the

year that has past and to lookforward to the promises ofthe year ahead. As midnightapproaches, the countdownbegins 10...9...8...7...anticipation mounts 6...5...4...we waitanxiously as a whole year is put behindus, in just these last few seconds3...2...1...Happy New Year!

Toasts go up, fireworks explode in the air.Following tradition in my house, we openthe doors and windows to let the old yearout and the New Year in. Interestingly, Irecently discovered that the month ofJanuary is named after the ancient Romangod of the gates, Janus. As a keeper ofthe gates and doors, Janus was alsothought to represent new beginnings. Heis often depicted as having two faces, onethat looks forward and another that looksback, alluding to the notion that gates lookin two directions.

So, we have crossed the gate. A brandnew year is here. Now looking forward,formally making a list or not, we are facedwith our New Year’s Resolutions! Time tostart anew!

DataProcessing

SIG

GeophysicalAuxiliaryBrunch

2 Geophysical Society of Houston January 2008 January 2008 Geophysical Society of Houston 19

GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY OF HOUSTONSandra Babcock, Office/Business Accounts Manager • 14811 St. Mary’s Lane, Suite 250, Houston, TX 77079 • Office Hours 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Phone: (713) 463-9477 • Fax (713) 463-9160email: [email protected] • website - http://www.gshtx.org

GSH Board of Directors = GSH Executive Committee + SEG Section Representatives

Phone Fax EmailPRESIDENT _________________ George Marion _______ 713-408-0147 _____________________ [email protected]

Corp Relations ___________ Kathy Hardy _________ 713-862-0913 _____________________ [email protected] ________________ Art Ross _____________ 281-360-9331 _____________________ [email protected] ________________ Tom Fulton __________ 281-242-1806 _____________________ [email protected] ______________ George Marion _______ 713-408-0147 _____________________ [email protected] ________________ Lisa Buckner _________ 713-6094256 ____ 713-609-5666 ___ [email protected] Liaison _______ Art Ross _____________ 281-360-9331 _____________________ [email protected]

PRES-ELECT ________________ Frank Dumanoir ______ 713-576-3326 _____________________ [email protected] Liaison ________ Steve Danbom ________ 713-937-7530 _____________________ [email protected] ________________ Lee Lawyer __________ 281-531-5347 _____________________ [email protected] Referral _____ Sam Leroy ___________ 281-556-9766 ___ 281-556-9778 ___ [email protected] ___________________ Dave Agarwal ________ 281-920-4450 ___ 281-920-1576 ___ [email protected] _______________ Jerry Donalson _______ 713-464-6188 ___ 713-464-6440 ___ [email protected]

FIRST VP____________________ Robert Wegner _______ 713-899-9023 _____________________ [email protected] Education _____ Robert Wegner _______ 713-899-9023 _____________________ [email protected] ________________ Robert Wegner _______ 713-899-9023 _____________________ [email protected] Breakfasts __________ Marvin Taylor_________ 713-369-5864 ___ 832-367-3837(c) _ [email protected] luncheons __________ Cheri Williams ________ 713-465-3181 ___ 713-465-8416 ___ [email protected] Committee _________ Jim DiSiena __________ 832-854-4289 ___ 832-854-7606 ___ [email protected]

SIGSData Processing __________ Ray Abma ___________ 281-366-4604 _____________________ [email protected]________________________ Clive Gerrard _________ 281-509-8183 _____________________ [email protected] Fields ___________ Shawn Mulcahy _______ 281-874-6050 _____________________ [email protected] Physics ____________ Keith Katahara _______ 713-759-1770 ___ 713-356-1800 ___ [email protected]________________________ Tad Smith ____________ 832-351-8980 _____________________ [email protected] _________ John Dai _____________ 713-689-6173 _____________________ [email protected]________________________ Mark Lee ____________ 713-689-2479 _____________________ [email protected]________________________ Tony Johns __________ 713-689-6633 _____________________ [email protected]

SECOND VP _________________ Haynie Stringer _______ 281-491-2045 ___ 877-552-0178 ___ [email protected] Meeting __________ Jim Moulden _________ 832-636-8665 ___ 832-636-5824 ___ [email protected] Banquet __________ Steve Davidson _______ 281-202-7838 (cell) _________________ [email protected] Tournament _________ Steve Tyrrell __________ 281-855-3662 _____________________ [email protected] Water Tournament ___ Bobby Perez__________ 281-240-1234 ___ 281-240-4997 ___ [email protected] Clays 2007 ______ Alan Foley ___________ 713-526-6680 _____________________ [email protected] Clays 2008 ______ Steve Mitchell ________ 281-275-7650 _____________________ [email protected] Tournament _______ Marvin Taylor_________ 713-369-5864 ___ 832-367-3837(c) _ [email protected]

SECRETARY _________________ Bob Gauer ___________ 832-351-8306 _____________________ [email protected] ________________ Paul Schatz __________ 713-975-7434 _____________________ [email protected] Membership ________ Jackie Moorehead _____ 832-351-8525 _____________________ [email protected] Auxiliary __________ Suzy Stepanek ________ 713-783-6888 _____________________ [email protected] Rep. _______________ Alf Klaveness _________ 713-465-8449 ___ 713-468-5123 ___ noneSEG Membership_________ Bob Gauer ___________ 832-351-8306 _____________________ [email protected]

TREASURER ________________ Steven Cochran _______ 281-509-8506 ___ 281-509-8091 ___ [email protected] _________________ Dwight Brown ________ 713-320-1330 _____________________ [email protected]

EDITOR _____________________ Fernanda Araujo ______ 832-486-2564 _____________________ [email protected] Editor __________ Glenn Bear ___________ 713-431-6583 _____________________ [email protected] Editor __________ John Sumner _________ 713-666-7655 _____________________ [email protected] Company Contacts ______ Scott Sechrist _________ 281-856-8029 ___ 281-856-7445 ___ [email protected] Pub ___________ Scott Sechrist _________ 281-856-8029 ___ 281-856-7445 ___ [email protected]_____________ John Sumner _________ 713-666-7655 _____________________ [email protected] _________________ Scott Sechrist _________ 281-856-8029 ___ 281-856-7445 ___ [email protected] Site ________________ Paul Schatz __________ 713-975-7434 _____________________ [email protected]

PAST PRESIDENT ____________ Kathy Hardy _________ 713-862-0913 _____________________ [email protected] PAST PRES. __________ Pat Peck _____________ 713-461-7178 ___ 713-468-7246 ___ [email protected] SECTION REPS _________ Lee Lawyer __________ 281-531-5347 _____________________ [email protected]

________________________ Art Ross _____________ 281-360-9331 _____________________ [email protected]†ALTERNATE SEG REPS _______ Dave Agarwal ________ 281-920-4450 ___ 281-920-1576 ___ [email protected]

________________________ Bill Gafford___________ 281-370-3264 _____________________ [email protected]________________________ Tom Fulton __________ 281-242-1806 _____________________ [email protected]________________________ Roy Clark ____________ 281-654-5651 ___ 281-654-5891 ___ [email protected]

:

43”

)22eb

o=

Editor’s Note


AuxiliaryTo ensure your information

reaches the GSH society membersin a timely manner it mustappear in the appropriatenewsletter issue. Please note thefollowing deadlines and plan yourfunction’s publicity strategy ac-cordingly. Items must bereceived on or before the corre-sponding deadline date. Pleasesend any obituary or memorial ar-ticles of recently deceased membersto the Editor for inclusion in thenewsletter. Materials can be emailedto Fernada Araujo, Editor [email protected] a copy sent to Glenn Bear [email protected]. Ifyou have any questions please callFernanda Araujo at 832/486-2564,or Glenn Bear at 713/431-6583.

2008 GSHNewsletter Deadlines

Issue ......................... February 2008Deadline ................ January 3, 2008

Issue ........................... March 2008Deadline ............... February 5, 2008

AnnouncementsTechnical Breakfast

January 9, 2008Technical Luncheon

January 15, 2008Omni Palace

Technical LuncheonJanuary 16, 2008

Petroleum ClubRock Physics SIG

January 16, 2008Data Processing SIG

January 23, 2008

Happy Holidays FromThe Geophysical

Auxiliary of HoustonDon’t forget this festive event and make your reservations now!

January 27, 2008Annual Brunch At the Lovely

Royal Oaks Country Club2910 Royal Oaks Drive, Houston, Texas 77082

There will be an elegant buffet and entertainment!

For information or questions call Suzy Stepanek at 713-783-6888. And, it’s not too late to join the GAH auxiliary. Refer to our Home Page

www.gshtx.org or call Suzy Stepanek at 713-783-6888.

2008 Schedule of Events

March 17, 2008At The Junior League of Houston for a rollicking day of games and buffet.

March 31, 2008“Opera in the Heights” for a tour of backstage, a mini opera and lunch.

May 1, 2008At the Westlake Club for the GAH Annual Business Meeting and lunch.

Program TBAAt the Westlake Dining Room

Museum News by Tom Fulton

Idea Acceptance And Gravity

A good idea is accepted by friends and implemented. 2007 was very good to me in that I got to see the ideas of Geoscience Day at the BEG and Living Legends at the SEG beautifully implemented with plans

that they be repeated. Haynie Stringer, Gene Womack, Bill Gafford and others built the former while CherylStevens and Benegene Kring organized the latter. Both exceeded my expectations. I mentioned the need for

a museum display to honor Lucien LaCoste and his professor, Arnold Romberg at UT back in October. I must count on friends inthe matter of gravity because I am a Seismic person with limited exposure to gravity in the recording and processing of Gulf datafrom the Gulfrex and Hollis Hedberg. Now the use of airborne gravity gradiometry has extended the usefulness of the measurement.Although very flattered that three past SEG presidents have already helped, more help will be needed.

First to recap and then indicate progress to date. LaCoste invented the zero length spring and hence the modern gravity meter inthe mid 1930s at the University of Texas, while studying under Arnold Romberg. They formed a company and made a series ofgravity meters, including No. 1, which we seek for the display, as well as continuing research to produce seaborne meters, etc. Wereturned L&R No. 22 to UT at the SEG and continue to have No. 4 on display at North Harris College. The Bob Bullock Museumin Austin likes the idea of a display and hopes to implement it in 2008. As to the latter invention, a quote from Tom LeFehr isappropriate:

“In the early days of dynamic gravity, when LaCoste was still making gimbal-mounted surface-ship meters, a major argumentdeveloped around what Lucien coined as the “cross-coupling” effect. Askania was then selling the stabilized platform systemwithout cross-coupling compensation. I think it was the Galveston SEG (but we would have to research that) where, insomewhat heated debate, Lucien said he would build a cross-coupling computer and let Askania have it for free to improvetheir meter system. They declined. Soon after, LaCoste built their first stabilized platform with the CC. The rest is historywith L&R dominating the air-sea market.”

At the SEG, Sally Zinke was found to have worked with Sid Hammer at the University of Wisconsin. She suggested that JamieRobertson would be able to determine if the L&R No. 1 meter was still there. Jamie’s query to UW resulted in the following reply:

“The University of Wisconsin people replied back to me quickly with definitive information on their gravity meters, and Ihave pasted in e-mails below for your information. Basically, the meter that the GSH Museum Committee is looking forwent to the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics in 1963 when George Woollard left UW for HIG. To the best of UW’s knowledge,the meter is still at HIG.

The UW has other gravity meters of historical interest like L&R No. 7 and L&R No. G-1, but they are in active use and notavailable for loan/donation at this time. Basil Tikoff (one of the geophysics professors at UW and the custodian of UW’sgravimeters) made the interesting observation below that gravity meters get better with time as the springs stabilize, so Iexpect No. 7 and No. G-1 will be in use in Wisconsin for the foreseeable future.”

The information from UW also indicated that a second series of L&R G meters was started in about 1960, which was smaller andlighter than the 1 1/2' cube of the first series. Peter Pangman helped by indicating a contact person in Hawaii to be Greg Mooreat the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics. Greg queried Fred Duennebier, who replied that L&R No. 1 is now a land tie instrument atKilo Moana, still in use. They could release it if we would supply a replacement. Unfortunately, we do not know the condition of themechanisms of the gravity meters we have.

Our additional needs for the museum display include an L&R cut-away, possibly parts from the ship borne meter at the SEG, aswell as a borehole meter. While LaCoste has received the Virgil Kaufman Gold Metal, it is appropriate that there be a museumdisplay to honor him. We are making progress though volunteers and donations are acceptable.

To reserve your advertisement space or for moreinformation contact Lilly Hargrave at: 713/463-9477

TIME TO ADVERTISE IN THE GSH NEWSLETTER

BUSINESS CARDS 12 ISSUES...ONLY $125

No. ofIssues: 1/8 pg. 1/4 pg. 1/2 pg. full page

6 $490 $782 $1565 $29357 $560 $895 $1790 $33558 $630 $1008 $2016 $37809 $700 $1120 $2240 $4200

10 $735 $1175 $2350 $4400

No. ofIssues: 1/8 pg. 1/4 pg. 1/2 pg. full page

1 $125 $200 $400 $7502 $208 $335 $660 $12503 $278 $448 $880 $16704 $348 $560 $1100 $20905 $425 $680 $1360 $2515


To reserveyour

advertisementspace

or for rateinformation

contactLilly Hargrave

at:713-

463-9477

CONTACT US!HOUSTON• Steve Davidson• Michael Higgins• Doug Kuervera• John Linger

www.fugro.com/geoscience/devprod/nonexcl.asp

LU

AT

KCAC

GCEB

WR

GB

MC

HI

PI

EI

GA

LS

HI

AM

LL

MI

VR

DC

SS

SE

BA

EC

HI

WC

ST

MU

DD

EI

HE

WC

PN

PS

HI

VR

MP

GA

MU

VK

SS

MP

WC

EC

CC

PS

PN

STSM

GI

BA

EW

WD

SM

EF

SM

BS

SP

GI

WD

PL

SP

SA

EW

SP

PI

SX

BM

SPBM

Kenneth Mohn Mike Whitehead Marvin Taylor

713-369-5859 713-369-5862 713-369-5864

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Fugro Multi Client Services, Inc.

New 10,000 meter Wave Equation &

Long Offset Data Kirchhoff PSDM

PSTM, AVO Gravity & Magnetics

We would like to thankall companies who have participated in Deep Focus and have made the project such a success!

January 2008 Geophysical Society of Houston 516 Geophysical Society of Houston January 2008

combine to create difficult conditions that pose a significantchallenge to state of the art imaging. Although recognized as animportant factor in many areas of the world, anisotropy has rankedfairly low as an imaging challenge in the Deepwater GoM. However,with sustained exploration success, there has been a need to provideimprovements in both the quality and predictive capability of ourseismic datasets. This need, coupled with the increasing availabilityof anisotropic prestack depth migration (PSDM), has led to theroutine incorporation of anisotropy into the PSDM workflow. Overthe course of numerous projects, our workflow has developed intothree key steps: use of anisotropic PSDM in early iterations ofvelocity analysis, iterative updating of velocity and anisotropy, andmodel validation and interpretation. One key learning has beenthe impact of including anisotropy early in the PSDM workflow.While early estimates of anisotropy are often unconstrained, ourresults indicate that even a simple model is less wrong than assumingisotropy. This methodology allows for more accurate velocityanalysis earlier in the update cycle and, hence, fewer overalliterations. Subsequent VSP analysis using the PSDM velocity modelshas consistently shown that the early introduction of anisotropyprovides for an improvement in the quality of the anisotropic velocitymodels and resulting images. These improvements translate intoan overall reduction in subsurface uncertainty, bettercharacterization of volumetrics and the ability to optimize wellplacement and recovery.

Biography:

Scott L. Neal received a B.S. degree in Physics from theUniversity of California Riverside in 1996, along with M.S. andPh.D. degree in geophysics from Indiana University in 1998and 2001. While in graduate school, he had a diverse range ofinterests ranging from the use of long-period magnetotelluricsto infer mantle composition to using teleseismic earthquakesand broadband three-component seismic arrays for crustalimaging. With Chevron since 1999, he has held a number ofpositions in exploration and development. He spent three yearsworking the Perdido foldbelt, including roles as the explorationgeophysicist on the trend-opening Baha and Trident wells.Following this assignment, Scott was a development geophysiciston the Typhoon field where he worked in quantitativeinterpretation and reservoir property prediction from seismic.For the past four years, he has worked a wide array ofexploration, appraisal, and development depth imaging projectsacross the Gulf of Mexico with a focus on improving imagequality through the application of new technologies in acquisition,processing, velocity estimation, and imaging. Scott is presentlythe geophysical coordinator for the Deepwater Gulf of Mexicoand has responsibility for technical oversight of all internal andexternal acquisition and depth imaging projects.

SightingsFrom the November 2007 GSH Technical Luncheon

understanding of the geology. Over the past two decades theseismic industry has developed and matured the 3D marineseismic method for routine application from exploration toproduction. As the oil industry seeks to replace reserves in areasbelow increasingly complex overburden, new technology isrequired to deliver the subsurface images required for explorationsuccess, field development and production. The presentationfocuses on delivering wide azimuth solutions across the valuechain to image reservoirs in these challenging environments.In shallow water, we have seen increasing use of ocean bottomcables, both for individual surveys and permanent systems forreservoir monitoring. In deepwater, new breakthroughs intechnology were required. This will be highlighted throughexamples of imaging below large salt bodies in the deep waterGulf of Mexico and below the Messinian anhydrite section ofthe Nile Delta. The novel use of existing acquisition technologyand customized development of new equipment will be discussed,highlighted with results from the field scale seismic experimentsconducted to prove up the concepts.

I will review the applicability of each technique and how they

depend on several factors, including the subsurface imagingrequirements, water depth and operational constraints. Thepresentation will conclude with a summary of how BP and theindustry have implemented these techniques at-scale since theinitial experimentation.

Biography:Tim Summers holds a PH.D in Geophysics from the Universityof Durham, UK. He began his career with BP in London in1982 working on seismic processing for both offshore andonshore assets and led the development of 3D processing forthe company. From 1990 to 1998, he worked in the Houstonoffice, initially as a geophysicist in the Gulf of Mexico shallowand deepwater exploration groups, and then in the R&D teamdeveloping complex imaging solutions for GoM and ColombiaE&P requirements. From 1998 to 2005, he was located inBP’s Sunbury office with responsibilities in integration of seismictechnology development and application following the mergerswith Amoco and Arco, and as marine R&D program leader. Heis currently the Director of Advanced Seismic ImagingTechnology for BP and located in Houston.

Technical Luncheon continued from page 1.

Technical Breakfast continued from page 1.

Wishing You A


Here’sMy Card...

To reserve your advertisement space or for rateinformation contact Lilly Hargrave at: 713-463-9477

tem ofInterest...

January replaced March as the first month of the year around 153BC. TheRoman Emperor Julius Caesar stretched out 47BC for 445 days to

synchronize the calendar with the sun and re-established January 1 as thestart of the year in 46BC. Pope Gregory XIII made some adjustments to theJulian calendar in 1582 to improve its accuracy and established the Gregoriancalendar as we know it today.

The Gregorian calendar system uses the following leap year rule:Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years thatare exactly divisible by 100; the centurial years that are exactly divisible by400 are still leap years. For example, the year 1900 is not a leap year; theyear 2000 is a leap year.

Census As OfNovember 8, 2007

Members GSH

Active 804Associate 161Emeritis 53Honorary 28Lifetime 29Students-FT 10

Total Members 1085

MembershipCommittee Report

Whether your list includes one or all of the most popularresolutions such as spend more time with family andfriends, start or maintain a fitness program throughoutthe year, reduce stress and enjoy life, help others, learnsomething new, get organized. The GSH has somethingfor you! Join us for a Technical Breakfast, for a TechnicalLuncheon or for an early evening SIG talk. Participate inthe various sports events we offer throughout the year:golf, fishing, tennis, sporting clays. Participate or volunteerat one of our special events. The Geoscience Week, forexample, was a great success this year. Help us make ithappen again in 2008. Check the calendar on our websitefor the most up-to-date schedules.

And if you happen to read a good book or take a nicestroll that might interest your colleagues in the geophysicalcommunity — send a Letter to the Editor and share yourthoughts. Be an active participant of the GSH this year!

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful2008!

Fernanda AraujoEditor

President’s Column continued from page 1.

tem ofInterest...


Houston telephone: 713.973.5772 | Corpus Christi telephone: 361.882.8400

2D/3D Seismic Processing Services

www.3dimaging.net

More solutions, better results.3D Imaging is a complete seismic processing service company. Our employees have theknow-how, experience and resources to provide the best quality products in the industry,offering a complete range of 2D and 3D land, marine, seismic processing and imagingservices and has earned a reputation for delivering projects of exceptional quality andinnovation. Our state-of-the-art on-site seismic data processing services are offeredeither online or through our data processing centers. Our seismic processing facilitieshave highly experienced geo-scientists using industry-leading tools to provide accurateand timely solutions.

•PreStack Time/Depth Migration•Inversion•AVO Modeling•High Resolution Signal Processing•Geophysical Consulting

•Discontinuity Volumes•Reservoir Characteristics•Media Copies•450 Gigaflop Linux Clusters


noitarolpxEdriBaeS noitarolpxEdriBaeS

For Advertising information contactLilly Hargrave at: 713-463-9477


ROCK PHYSICS SIG


Time: 5:30 p.m.

Location: CGG Veritas10300 Town Park Dr.Houston, TX 77072

Title: Rock Properties In Low Porosity/Low Permeability Sandstones

Speaker: Tad M. Smith, Hampson-Russell Software (a CGG Veritas company)

Abstract:

High natural gas prices, combined with decreasingopportunities in conventional oil and gas plays, haveresulted in a pronounced increase in interest inunconventional gas reservoirs (see Figure 1). Because ofthe unique challenges posed by these reservoirs,considerable effort has been made during the past fewyears on developing new dril l ing and completiontechniques. In addition, advances in logging and coreevaluation techniques have improved our ability tounderstand the petrophysical characteristics of thesecomplex reservoirs. Only recently, however, have newgeophysical techniques been deployed in an effort tobetter image and understand unconventional reservoirs.Unfortunately, relatively little experimental work has beendone on the rock physics of low porosity/low permeabilitysands. This is somewhat surprising, given the importanceof these reservoirs.

Analysis of well log data from several low porositysandstone reservoirs suggests that these rocks may notbehave as expected. Several wells (and some core data)are examined in this talk, and are used to illustrate someof the more important elements of the rock propertiesof tight gas sands. Perhaps most importantly, moduli-porosity relationships are shown to be complex, andcannot be explained in these rocks without inferring thepresence of very low aspect ratio pores, and/or cracksin the rock matrix. Alternatively, effective mediummodeling suggests that pore aspect ratios may decreasewith decreasing porosity. As a result, the use of elasticmoduli or impedances to map porosity from seismic datamay be problematic. For the case of porosity less thanapproximately 8-10%, variations in elastic moduli maybe more influenced by pore geometry than absoluteporosity. It is important to note that low aspect ratiopores in tight gas sands have been inferred elsewhere,based primarily on analysis of permeability and capillarypressure measurements on core data.

Figure 1. - Projected growth in unconventional gas productionduring the next 23 years. Y-axis scale is annual production, inTCF (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/archive/aeo06/pdf/trend_4.pdf)

Biography:Tad Smith manages a small, but very spirited, group ofpetrophysicists and geophysicists for Hampson-Russellsoftware (a CGGVeritas company). He has a variety ofresponsibilities, but amongst his favorite is the analysis ofpetrophysical data in support of geophysical interpretation(i.e., “seismic petrophysics”). Indeed, it is his unyieldingbelief that seismic amplitudes cannot quantitatively beinterpreted in the absence of petrophysical information.

Prior to joining Veritas, Tad held a variety of positions as apetrophysicist and geologist with Amoco, BP, and NewfieldExploration. His experience includes petrophysical andseismic rock property evaluation, AVO analysis, integratedfield studies, exploration mapping, field development, anddrilling operations.

Tad received his PhD in geology from Texas A&M Universityin December, 1991, and an M.S. in geology fromWashington State University in June, 1987. He is a memberof AAPG, SEG, SPWLA, HGS, and GSH, and currentlyco-chairs the Rock Physics SIG for the Geophysical Societyof Houston (GSH).

DATA PROCESSING SIG


Time: 5:00 p.m.Social5:30 p.m. Talks

Location: BP Westlake 4200 Westlake Park Blvd..Houston, TX 77079 • Phone: 281-366-2000

Note: Parking is available in the Westlake 4 garage on thenorthwest side of the BP campus, near the intersection ofGrisby and Westlake Park Blvd.

PRESENTATION TWO

Title: Towards An Accurate and EfficientReverse Time Migration

Speaker: Yu Zhang, CGG VeritasAbstract:Reverse-time migration (RTM) based on directly solvingthe two-way wave equation provides a natural way to dealwith large lateral velocity variation and imposes no diplimitations on the images. It has attracted considerableattention and is considered to be a method of choice forimaging complex subsurface structures. In this technicalpresentation, we review some theoretical andimplementation issues of this imaging method, includingmigration noise attenuation, true amplitude formulationfor angle gather output, numerical dispersion and stabilityproblems of conventional explicit finite differencealgorithms. We will talk about some ideas on how to reducethe computational cost of this migration. We propose“harmonic-source migration”, a phase-encoding techniquethat allows an efficient delayed-shot implementation ofRTM. Also, we will simply discuss some alternatives tosolve two-way wave equations, including a split step implicitfinite-difference algorithm (SSIFD) and a stable anddispersion free explicit method, called “explicit marching”.

Biography:Yu Zhang received a BS (1991) from Peking University,China and a PhD (1996) in mathematics from ChineseAcademy of Sciences. Between 1997 and 1998, he workedin Applied Mathematics Department at California Instituteof Technology as a Postdoctoral Scholar. He jointedVeritasDGC Inc. in 1999 and has been working on variousresearch projects in prestack depth imaging and processing.He is currently a R&D Deputy Manager at CGGVeritas inHouston. He won the J. Clarence Karcher Award fromthe SEG in 2004, SEG’s Best Paper in Geophysics Awardin 2006 (with Guanquan Zhang and Norman Bleistein) andthe Bonarelli Award of the EAGE in 2007 (with Sheng Xuand Guanquan Zhang).

PRESENTATION ONE

Title: 3D Beam Prestack Depth Migration,with Examples from Around the World

Speaker: Karl Schleicher,Applied Geophysical Services

Co-authors: John Sherwood, Kevin Sherwood and Hans Tieman

Abstract:AGS developed Beam Prestack Depth Migration in 1999to remedy deficiencies in other PSDM techniques. Since itwas commercialized in 2000, Beam PSDM has provenespecially effective for dealing with poor signal to noiseratio data and for imaging steep dips. The method involvesthree main steps: decomposition, migration, andreconstruction. This is a flexible approach to seismicimaging and is readily adapted to other data problems suchas removal of multiple reflections and other coherent noise.The algorithm rapidly images large data sets making it wellsuited for velocity and salt geometry estimation. Velocityfields derived from Beam PSDM are compatible with otherPSDM algorithms.

This paper describes Beam PSDM and presents resultsfrom around the world, including the Beaufort Sea, theFaroe Islands, east India, west Africa, Brazil, and theGulf of Mexico.

Biography:Karl Schleicher started his career in geophysics processingseismic data at GSI in 1975. In addition to processing datahe has developed preprocessing, multiple attenuation,interpolation, imaging, and velocity estimation software forGeophysical Service Inc., Halliburton Geophysical Service,Western Geophysical, Geophysical DevelopmentCorporation, PGS, Applied Geophysical Services, and PGS.He has been VP Technology at Applied GeophysicalServices since 2002. His current interests are using prestackbeam migration to process seismic data and develop newimaging and velocity estimation techniques.

gsh jan08 news - gshtx.org€¦ · 2 geophysical society of houston january 2008 january 2008...

Documents