MultiFocusing Imaging for Seismic Data with Irregular Acquisition Design in Densely Populated Areas

Abstract

Acquiring seismic 3D data in highly populated areas is very difficult. The design of such surveys is usually highly irregular and the processing of these data challenging. The MultiFocusing (MF) imaging technology, which belongs to the group of multi-parameter processing (MPP) methods, does not require a regular acquisition design and is especially suitable for such scenarios. We will illustrate this imaging technology and show MF data regularization results utilizing an irregular 3D dataset acquired in a populated area in the United States. A 3D dataset that was acquired with a highly irregular design over a densely populated area was processed with a conventional processing sequence and with the multi-dimensional MF methodology. The MF data regularization was crucial for this dataset for subsequent prestack time and depth imagining. The first MF dataset had a 110ft x 110ft binning. Further testing showed that a binning of 55ft x 55ft produced the best results for horizon mapping and was used for the final PSTM delivery. For additional attribute work, the 110ft x 110ft binning was more suitable as it showed a higher frequency content.