In this article, we will describe a new seismic filter to improve seismic data quality. This filter refers to the structural information and works to enhance the continuity of seismic horizons. Conventionally, the structural information is extracted through picking horizons and mapping them by interpreter. Recently alternative ways to extract the structural information directly from seismic data without manual horizon picking was developed. We applied this technique to estimate the spatially-variable local slope of the seismic events as the structural attribute by using the planewave destructor method. Attenuation of random noises and enhancement of structural continuity result in improving the quality of seismic interpretation. However random noise attenuation and preserving spatial resolution always have the trade-off relation in seismic data processing. To overcome this problem, we applied the “symmetric nearest neighbor” method. The symmetric nearest neighbor filtering is widely applied in the field of image processing as an edge-preserving smoothing filter for square dataset. We applied this method to the segmental dataset in seismic data processing.

Numerical tests on the field seismic data showed that this filter efficiently attenuated random noises while preserving the spatial resolution of the seismic image.

The recent asphaltene onset pressure （AOP） detecting method has widely applied Laser-light Scattering Technique （LST） that shows a sudden drop of laser-light transparent due to disturbance by asphaltene precipitated solid particles during isothermal depressurizing test. However, the dependence on one measuring source for deciding AOP might be vulnerable for robust analysis. To improve the reliability of AOP detection, therefore a comprehensive method was established for the interpretation of AOP through simultaneous measuring experiments using synthetic live oil in a certain oil field. For this method, AOPs were simultaneously measured for identical subsamples with various technologies: laser-light scattering, high pressure microscopic observation of asphaltene particle count and size, and viscosity in the previous report by Miyagawa et al.（ 2016）. This method can provide significant advantage such as decrease of experimental error, maximizing effective utilization of costly collected live oil samples, and back up for mistakes in other measuring methods. However, the previous oil samples to be tested were collected from the unique source of domestic oil ?eld. Therefore, the established interpreting method was concerned to fluid-characteristicsdepended with low multiplicity of use. This paper demonstrated that the established method could work with versatility using different source oil sample. Furthermore, for more expanded application such as CO₂ EOR investigation, the method was used for CO₂-Oil mixtures and successfully interpreted AOP. Consequently, the interpretation approach was revealed to have universal adaptability.

An outline of geological and geographical survey of oil fields in Japan from 1876 to 1879 is described.

This survey was conducted by Lyman and his pupils as the first scientific geological survey for petroleum exploration in Japan. Contents and results of the survey are summarized using published papers.