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We are now a Global Geophysical Services Company
January 5, 2012 press release Global Press Release Jan2012
Sensor’s 2012 Technology Forum
* Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 12:00pm [Sheraton Eau Claire +15 level Ballroom]*
Please RSVP by Wednesday April 11th, 2012 As lunch will be provided Cocktails and refreshments to follow program
To RSVP or for more information please contact: Jocelyn Frankow Marketing & Sales 403-260-6582 or Jocelyn_frankow@sensorgeo.com
THE SCHEDULE
12:00 – 12:30 pm Registration – Lunch provided
12:35 pm Welcome and Introduction
12:40 – 1:00 pm Global Geophysical Rollout
Speaker: Chris Usher, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
1:00 – 1:30pm Title: AutoSeis
Speaker: Ralph Muse, AutoSeis Inc.
Summary: An autonomous nodal acquisition system taking seismic imaging to the next level
1:30 – 2:00 pm Title: Multicomponent Seismic Processing: Automated Receiver Azimuth Detection
Speaker: Dr. Jeff Grossman, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Summary: Converted-wave energy is recorded mainly on the two lateral components of the receiver. Conventional processing of converted-wave energy includes rotation of the lateral data into radial and transverse coordinates, which requires knowledge of the in-situ receiver orientation. Errors in the recorded receiver azimuth arise in practice, causing undesirable ‘leakage’ of radial energy onto the transverse component. To address this problem, Sensor Geophysical has developed a new, high-fidelity method for automatically detecting the receiver azimuths. This new method is based on information extracted from the refracted P-wave energy present on all three components.
2:00 – 2:30 pm Title: Tomographic Fracture Images; opening new horizons in microseismic interpretations
Speaker: Peter Geiser, Global Geophysical Services
Summary The Theory: (1) Everywhere in the crust of the Earth, the rocks and the pore system in the rocks are at a state of “frictional equilibrium” (Barton et al. multiple publications). (2) If the pressure is perturbed, the system will fail preferentially in shear in order to attempt to return to a state of frictional equilibrium. (3) The pressure doesn’t need to change much (as little as 0.01bars of pressure change will be enough) to create this failure. (4) When the failure occurs, it creates Acoustic Energy (AE) which can be detected by Seismic Emission Tomography (SET) passive listening devices. (5) Since permeability system in the reservoir (or an aquifer) exists as a geomechanically-coupled poro-elastic system (numerous reservoir engineering publications), pressure changes are translated through the permeability structure as pressure waves (Pf). (6) These Pf waves then translate the shear failure in microcracks that exist in the permeability system (Kes Heffer, multiple publications) and the AE of the failures are seen by the SET microseismics as “illuminating” the permeability system in the reservoir. (7) By using proprietary and patented techniques, GMS uses portions of the AE responses to image the permeability field in the reservoir as it attempts to re-adjust to a state of frictional equilibrium.
The Result: so, using our Tomographic Fracture Imaging ™ technology, one does not simply image a propagating hydro-frac, but rather one can see not only the frac but also what the frac has connected into in terms of the permeability structure of the reservoir.
The Proof: A study done with EQT Production on a shale gas reservoir in West Virginia was done as a blind test of the technology. Complementary data sets, including chemical tracers in multiple nitrogen frac stages, pressure monitors in a dozen near-by wells and extraordinarily detailed down-hole image and logging technology confirm the observations of TFIs. In other words, there is extensive independent proof that our TFI technology images the permeability structure of the reservoir.
2:30 – 2:45 pm BREAK
2:45 – 3:15 pm Title: Simultaneous time-lapse processing for optimal repeatability
Speaker: Radim Vesely, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Summary: In amplitude preserving simultaneous processing of time-lapse seismic data, we introduce a strict QC procedure that steers the processing towards optimal time-lapse repeatability. We compute NRMS errors between stack traces for different phases (vintages) of a survey after each main step of simultaneous processing. A processing step is considered acceptable only when its overall NRMS error value is lower compared to the value of the previous step. We demonstrate this QC scheme with a real time-lapse dataset.
3:15 – 3:45 pm Title: Integration of Seismic, Microseismic and Engineering Data Provides Insight into Well Prospectivity and Productivity in the Eagle Ford
Speaker: Ross Peebles and Ted Royer, Global Geophysical Services
Summary: Regional and local analysis of the Eagle Ford using production data and Global Geophysical’s vast multi-client seismic data library indicates substantial lateral and vertical heterogeneity throughout this play. This observation suggests the following questions: • Can attributes be identified that are indicators of well performance? • Can these be used to create a predictive model for well prospectivity and productivity? The workflow demonstrated here is a multi-disciplinary integration of the geophysical, geological, and engineering data that combines numerous datasets together, identifies the specific data types that are essential to hydrocarbon production, and produces a model that not only identifies the most prospective areas for drilling, but also provides quantitative estimates of the cut-off values of the most important factors. Furthermore, this analysis also provides insight into the dynamic response of the resource to stimulation and production. Properly applied, this workflow can significantly reduce drilling risk and aid in the optimization of a drilling and completion program. The work presented here also demonstrates the value that seismic and microseismic data can bring to resource characterization and development planning of unconventional resources.
3:45 – 4:15 pm Title: Near-surface characterization and Vp/Vs analysis of a shale gas basin ###
Speaker: Liliana Zuleta, University of Calgary, CREWES
Summary: The project area studied in this thesis is located in northeast British Columbia (NEBC). A large 3D/3C seismic survey is planned for this area. To guarantee the quality of the 3D/3C acquisition planning parameters, a 2D refraction survey was acquired in 2011 to provide information about the near surface, with an emphasis on measuring the shear wave properties. Obtaining knowledge on the velocity-depth structure of the near surface, and checking the feasibility of acquiring multicomponent 3D/3C data were the main drivers for this 2D/3C acquisition. The structure of the near surface is also important for the investigation and integration with deeper data. As a result, an analysis of the Vp/Vs ratio was carried out for both the shallow and deep formations. The refraction analysis targeted the near surface study, and horizon registration of the PP and PS reflection sections was used for the deeper structure. The dataset used during this study includes a multicomponent refraction survey and logs from a well near the project area. Horizontal Shear data (SH-wave) and P-wave data were used for the refraction analysis, which provided the near-surface SH-wave and P-wave velocity-depth structure required for calculation of static corrections during the processing of the reflection data. Acquiring SH-wave and converted (PS) wave reflection data enabled PS to PP registration, from which the Vp/Vs values for the horizon time intervals of interest were obtained. These ratios were compared with Vp/Vs obtained with the dipole log curves from the available well log which included data from 40 m to 2054 m of depth. Vp/Vs is a very important tool for lithology identification, and the shear-wave data helps in differentiating between lithologic or fluid changes in the subsurface. Elastic rock properties can be estimated by doing combined interpretation of PP, SS and PS data (Garotta et al., 2002).
4:15 – 4:45 pm Title: Shear wave data rotation and splitting analyses – a review of the processes and their interpretive value
Speaker: Radim Vesely, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Summary: Data rotation of multicomponent seismic data is a fundamental process implemented many times throughout a 3C processing flow. This includes the rotation of data from data-acquisition coordinates to radial and transverse vectors as well as shear wave splitting analyses for fast and slow shear modes. This superficially mundane process is not just important to the processor for successfully recovering and enhancing the shear data but to the interpreter as well. A multitude of informative attributes are produced as a result of the rotation process throughout the processing flow that can give the interpreter valuable insights about near-surface stress fields, fracture swarms at depth, and attributes for geomechanical analysis.
4:45 – 8:00pm Please stay and join us for Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres and meet some of the Sensor and Global team members
SEG 2011
Multi-dimensional Seismic Regularization and Interpolation
Thursday, September 22, 2011 - 9:45am
214C - Aliasing and 5D Interpolation with the MWNI algorithm - P.W. Cary
Aliasing and 5D Interpolation with the MWNI algorithm
EAGE 2011
Multi-Component Seismic -/- High Performance Computing; Wed May 25 at 14:45 hrs
P214 - Aspects of Amplitude Preserving Converted-wave Prestack Time Migration - P.W. Cary & A. Zhang
Recovery 2011
http://www.geoconvention.com/
Wednesday, May 11 – Morning
Seismic Processing III
8:35am True-Amplitude PS Prestack Time Migration via 5D Interpolation - Peter W. Cary and Albert Zhang
True-Amplitude PS Prestack Time Migration via 5D Interpolation
9:00am The Deconvolution of Multicomponent Trace Vectors - Xinxiang Li, Peter Cary and Rodney Couzens
The Deconvolution of Multicomponent Trace Vectors
Sensor’s 2011 Technology Forum
* Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 12:00pm [Telus Convention Centre - Macleod Hall]*
SCHEDULE
12:00 – 12:30 pm Registration – Lunch provided
12:35 pm Introduction
12:40 – 1:10 pm Title: 5D Interpolation of COV Volumes using the MWNI Algorithm
Speaker: Dr. Peter Cary, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Summary: Minimum weighted norm interpolation (MWNI) is commonly used to interpolate entirely new source lines and receiver lines, which quadruples the amount of prestack data and vastly increases the amount of computation required for prestack migration. As an alternative, 5D interpolation directly into common-offset vector (COV) volumes has the advantage that a better prestack migration is obtained with about the same amount of data as the originally acquired data volume. MWNI 5D interpolation into COV volumes enjoys this computational advantage while still preserving AVO/AVAZ and attenuating random noise and acquisition footprint.
Dr. Peter Cary has B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in physics, and a B.A. degree in philosophy from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in geophysics (1987) from Cambridge University, England. He worked for Chevron both in Calgary and in La Habra, California from 1982 to 1984 and was Manager of Geophysical Research with Pulsonic Geophysical Ltd. from 1988 to 1996. He started at Sensor Geophysical Ltd. in 1996 as Chief Geophysicist. He has presented and published many papers on seismic processing, and served as technical program chairman of the SEG 2000 Annual Meeting and of the 1993 CSEG Annual Meeting. Peter was president of the CSEG in 2004-05. He was also 2nd V.P. of the CSEG in 1996-97. He was an associate editor (seismic processing) of Geophysics from 1998-2001. Most recently he was honored by the CSEG with the 2009 Honourary Membership award. One of his specialties is processing and developing software for multi-component seismic data.
1:10 – 1:40 pm Title: AVO Crossplotting Revisited: A Practitioner’s Perspective
Speaker: Heath Pelletier, Talisman Energy Inc.
Summary: Crossplotting AVO attributes can yield qualitative and quantitative measures for any given AVO anomaly relative to background trend rocks. Seismic processing and gather calibration (or lack thereof) can have a significant effect on the behavior of the data populations being interpreted in this crossplot space. Rotating intercept/gradient crossplot slopes observed in seismic data can often be directly attributed to the difficulty inherent in preconditioning gathers for AVO analysis. In this presentation I will review the theoretical expectations regarding AVO crossplot behavior, the role of seismic gather calibration, and the value of various compensating methods. Best practice procedures are stressed throughout the discussion.
Heath Pelletier is a Senior GeoScience Advisor with Talisman Energy. He received a B.Sc in Physics from the University of Alberta and began his geophysics career by learning the ropes as a processor. His attention then turned towards AVO and Rock Property (LMR) applications within various reservoir characterization groups. At Talisman, Heath is in a technical leadership role mentoring and advising with an emphasis on seismic attributes and multi-disciplinary integration. Prior to his current role he was in the New Plays division piloting wells and a Delivery Unit in development mode.
1:40 – 1:55 pm Title: Vector Deconvolution of Multi-component Data
Speaker: Xinxiang Li, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Summary: Deconvolution of the horizontal components of converted-wave data typically uses operators computed only from the radial component of the data. This approach assumes that no significant energy is present on the transverse component, which may not be the case when shear waves propagate in anisotropic rock formations. A new deconvolution method based on the vector trace power spectrum is introduced in this presentation. It treats the horizontal components as trace vectors so that the energy on both components is always included in the process. Vector deconvolution is shown to be independent of rotation and time shift. Compared with the conventional radial component based deconvolution approach, the vector deconvolution method is more suitable for the deconvolution of multi-component horizontal components, especially for data with a significant amount of shear wave splitting. This vector deconvolution may be a solution to the dilemma between quality birefringence analysis and high resolution converted wave processing.
Xinxiang Li graduated with a BSc. in mathematics (1987) from the Peking University. He received a MSc. degree in applied mathematics (1989) from Tsinghua University and a MSc. Degree in Geophysics (1999) from the University of Calgary. Currently he is working on his Ph.D. at the University of Calgary. Xinxiang has been working in Calgary as a seismic data processing researcher and developer since 1998. He began his career in Calgary at Enertec and then the CREWES Project at the University of Calgary before joining Sensor Geophysical Ltd. in 2000. After working at CGGVeritas for 4 years he returned to Sensor at the beginning of 2010. His main interests are focused on advanced technologies for the processing and interpretation of multicomponent seismic data. He is also very interested in how seismic anisotropy shown on P waves and S waves can provide us with more insight on the subsurface rock properties.
1:55 – 2:15 pm BREAK
2:15 – 2:45 pm Title: An overview of the work the U of C has done on the Horn River and Potash datasets
Speaker: Dr. Don Lawton, University of Calgary
Summary: In this presentation, two multicomponent datasets are assessed for mapping fracture systems. In the first example, from the Horn River Basin, NE British Columbia, PP and PS curvature maps enhanced the structural interpretation of the data and enabled the lateral continuity of faults and fractures to be mapped across the area of the seismic survey. Both horizon and volume based most negative curvature were effective in mapping fault and fracture trends within the Exshaw and Muskwa shale gas targets. In the second example, from a potash mining area in Saskatchewan, seismic interpretation of the time-lapse 3C-3D surveys saw noticeable amplitude changes and time delays, especially on the PS data, possibly caused by the development of fractures.
Dr. Don Lawton is a professor of Geophysics at the University of Calgary and currently holds the appointment of Chair in Exploration Geophysics. He is a New Zealander by birth and grew up on a sheep and cattle farm (hence all those sheep jokes!) He received a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Geology from the University of Auckland in 1974, followed by a Ph.D. in geophysics in 1979. In the mid-1970’s he worked in New Zealand for the minerals division of Amoco, and emigrated to Canada in 1979 to take up an appointment in geophysics at the University of Calgary. He has now been at the U of C for over 25 years and over this time period has instructed over 2000 undergraduate students in various geophysics courses and in field schools and has supervised 35 graduate students.
Don served as Head of the Department of Geology and Geophysics from 1997 to 2002, is a Director of FRP and an Associate Director of CREWES. He and his graduate students have received several Best Paper awards from the CSEG and SEG. He is a past editor of the Canadian Journal of Exploration Geophysics, was Second Vice-President of the CSEG in 1994, received a CSEG Meritorious Service Award in 1996, and was awarded the CSEG Medal in 2000. He is a member of the CSEG, SEG, EAGE, AAPG, ASEG, CGU and APEGGA.
2:45 – 3:15 pm Title: Multicomponent geomechanical study of bitumen recovery; caprock integrity and operational implications.
Speaker: Kurt Wikel, Petrobank Energy and Resources
Summary: Recent research has shown that shear wave splitting in the near surface (0-400m) should be attributed to anomalies in the regional stress field, given the PS1/PS2 time lag and PS1 direction change observed in several data sets. These changes can be indicative of local deviations from the regional stress regime, which at this depth would be one that is controlled by the overburden stress. We will show examples from our Conklin pilot facility tying these overburden anomalies to operational occurrences that correlate to a deviation from the regional stress regime. This correlation gives much greater confidence in being able to use multicomponent seismic data as a tool for cap rock integrity studies and future integration with 3D geomechanical modeling. These changes in stress in the overburden can also affect wellbore stability over the long term, and even has implications for the effectiveness of long term bitumen recovery.
Kurt Wikel graduated with a B. Sc in Geology from the University of Montana. He received his M. Sc. from the Colorado School of Mines in Geophysics with a minor in Petroleum Engineering in 2008. A graduate of the Reservoir Characterization Project, he worked with Schlumberger DCS Denver on geomechanics applied to time-lapse multicomponent seismic data. From 2008-2010 he worked with Talisman Energy in unconventional shale exploration in North America and as the Geomechanical Specialist for International Exploration. While at Talisman he was responsible for wellbore stability modeling, pore pressure prediction, and the integration of geomechanics with other geoscience disciplines. Kurt joined Petrobank Energy and Resources in July 2010 and is currently responsible for Subsurface Geophysics and Geomechanics for the Heavy Oil Business Unit. He is a member of the SEG, CSEG, and is an associate editor for the CSEG Recorder.
3:15 – 3:30 pm Title: Rock physics estimates for shale anisotropy parameters: A review.###
Speaker: Dr. Chuck Ursenbach, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Summary: The Thomsen anisotropy parameters for shale are sought after because of their value in seismic processing and interpretation. It is not surprising then that the geophysical literature contains a number of empirical and semi-empirical attempts to relate these parameters to other, more accessible rock properties, such as velocities, porosity, and clay volume. It is more surprising perhaps that these methods are not widely known, and that they differ considerably in their assumptions and predictions. This group of estimation methods will be reviewed and compared in order to summarize current work in this area.
Dr. Charles Ursenbach received a B.Sc. (Hons) degree from the University of Calgary and a Ph.D. degree from the University of British Columbia, both in the field of Chemical Physics. Charles spent his early career as a post-doctoral fellow at Oxford University and at the University of Pennsylvania, and later as a faculty member at Marquette University. In 2000 he entered the field of geophysics as a researcher with CREWES, and then moved to CGGVeritas in 2008. Charles joined Sensor Geophysical Ltd. in February of this year where his role will be supporting research and development efforts.
3:30 – 4:00 pm Title: Geoscience Interpretation of a Multicomponent 3D Seismic Survey in Extreme Southern Alberta
Speaker: John L. J. Duhault, PetroBakken Energy
(Co-authors, Penny Colton, Carmen Dumitrescu)
Summary: The understanding of a Lower Cretaceous clastic reservoir and the underlying Mississippian carbonate subcrop play was greatly enhanced by the rock properties and attributes derived from a multicomponent (3C3D) seismic survey. Integrating numerous vertical (PP) 3D seismic images led to a preliminary assessment of the property. However it was the 3D images of the converted wave (PS) data and the derived density (from the joint inversion of the PP and the PS-wave seismic data), which provided insight into potential reservoir permeability barriers and post depositional tectonics events. The resultant interpretation led to a better understanding of the reservoir facies and provided a new play concept that was not imaged on the PP-wave data. A case history will be presented.
John Duhault, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering in 1979 from the University of Manitoba. Mr. Duhault spent his first 15 years with the Chevron Group of companies, where he developed his core strength of geophysical image interpretation by integrating the geophysics into the geology and reservoir engineering data. He subsequently worked for CS Resources until it was acquired by Pan Canadian in 1997. He then started a geoscience interpretation consulting company where he found significant oil and gas reserves for various clients exploring in Western Canada. From 2003 - 2005 Mr Duhault was President, CEO and a Director of Dragonheart Energy and when that was sold he co-founded Dragonheart Resources which was merged with Eagle Rock Exploration in December 2007. He stayed on with Eagle Rock as VP Exploration until 2009 and has subsequently consulted/worked/mentored for Pengrowth Corporation and other companies and is currently a Senior Geophysicist at PetroBakken Energy. Mr Duhault is a member of CSEG, SEG, CSPG, and APEGGA and is currently Chair of the PrairieAction Foundation
SEG/Denver 2010
MC 2 — Seismic Technologies; Wednesday, 1:30pm October 20, 2010 [Room: 405/406]
Technical considerations for converted-wave prestack time migration
Peter W. Cary, and Changjun Zhang, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.
Technical Considerations for Converted-Wave Prestack Time Migration
The Leading Edge October 2010
Special Section: Multicomponent Seismic
Shear-wave splitting in compliant rocks
Peter Cary, Xinxiang Li, Gulia Popov, and Changjun Zhang, Sensor Geophysical Ltd.