Improvements and challenges in subsurface evaluation brought by the technical advancements in geophysics

Abstract

Recent maturity in oil and gas exploration has oriented the interests of the industry towards geophysically severer geological targets, including deep and complicated structures or high impedance rocks. In addition, more sophisticated reservoir managements have been required to optimize field developments and suppress operational risks by involving more geophysical measures sensing the subsurface condition. The focuses in technology developments for data processing and analysis therefore include advanced seismic imaging, quantitative interpretation, and reservoir monitoring. Advancements in field recording technologies, in parallel with the efforts for reducing data volume, deliver more "perfect" seismic data with broader frequency and spatial wavenumber, enabling those new processing and analysis technologies.