American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2015 - 83

SpecialReport: Study In Geophysics
In the Central Gulf of Mexico, Hobbs
says TGS's Declaration M-WAZ 3-D
project is under way to collect richazimuth data over a previous acquisition
known as the Justice WAZ 3-D project.
He says Declaration has been extended,
based on results of fast-track interpretation.
Acquisition features extra-long offsets of
up to 16 kilometers to properly image
the subsalt in the deep Jurassic play.
Hobbs says the survey is slightly larger
than Justice and extends into the Atwater
Valley protraction area. The fast-track
dataset will be available later this year,
he says, with a final processed version
deliverable in early 2016.
"We are acquiring Declaration in an
orthogonal direction to Justice, then processing all the data together to get a more
full-azimuth subsurface image," Hobbs
details.
When the project was proposed in
2009, Hobbs says he was skeptical about
the incremental improvement to be gained
by the second survey. "It turns out that
even in wide-azimuth surveys, there is
significant incremental insight to be gained

from a different acquisition direction,"
he allows.

Multiclient Seabed Surveys
Until recently, seabed technology has
been used almost exclusively for proprietary surveys in production areas, observes
Hobbs. Acquisition providers have been
working to reduce the cost of oceanbottom data so that the technology can
be applied more widely.
"Stationary sensors on the seafloor
deliver superior data quality," Hobbs insists. "Low noise and full azimuth are its
big advantages."
Last year, TGS partnered with FairfieldNodal on two projects in the Gulf of
Mexico. Acquisition in the Nessie FAN 3D project near the Mississippi Delta is
complete, according to Hobbs. The Ogo
FAN 3-D survey is in the Eugene Island
protraction area and will be completed later
this year, he adds. Both projects feature
long-offset, full-azimuth nodal data, and
are complemented by historical production
data. Hobbs says these projects represent
what he hopes is a growing segment of the

company's multiclient portfolio.
Acquiring the right data at the right
time begins with a thorough understanding
of the imaging problems for each particular
project, Hobbs says. Technology selection
and survey design follow. He says multiclient projects help keep down costs and
turnaround time. They also feature the
latest in geophysical algorithms, such as
full waveform inversion and new methods
for reverse time migration.
"The industry has been focused on
broadband technology over the past several
years," Hobbs comments. "New projects
now are often shot in broadband, and legacy
datasets can be reprocessed for additional
insight using new processing techniques."
He says TGS has reprocessed much
of its data library, adding new value for
oil companies seeking greater insight into
complex structures.
"Companies continue to explore and
replace reserves, even in a tough market,"
Hobbs concludes. "There is no better
data type than seismic to help them predict
what they will see in the subsurface." Ì

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - May 2015

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