Spring 2001 Distinguished Lecturer
Robert Tatham

Breaking Down Barriers
to Effective use of
Multicomponent Seismic Data
by Robert Tatham,
Department of Geological Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin

For the past twenty-five years, seismic shear-wave data have been applied in various parts of the petroleum exploration and production industry. Since direct sources of shear-wave energy were often deployed, data acquisition was generally limited to land locations. Further, concerns about receiver coupling also limited recording of mode-converted shear waves from conventional sources to land environments. In recent years, multicomponent seismic data acquisition has been successfully extended into the marine environment through 3-C and 4-C bottom cable recording using conventional air-gun sources. Mode-converted shear-wave energy has been quite effectively recorded, and processing capabilities are rapidly evolving. The actual interpretation and application of these data, however, has not experienced as rapid a rate of progress as the evolution of acquisition and processing technology.

This lecture focuses on where we stand as an industry in the application of multicomponent data, experience of end users and how they can incorporate multicomponent data into their interpretations, and the status of effective interpretive models required to fully exploit the potential of the information contained in multicomponent seismic data. This includes a review of published results demonstrating the existence of many applicable interpretive models and how they have been successfully applied. Further improvement of communications among technology implementers and developers will reduce apparent barriers to widespread application of these technologies.

One barrier to widespread application of 4-C P-wave and shear (P-SV) wave data acquired in marine environments has been limited experience and understanding by asset team interpreters of just how to use these new types of data offered by technology developers. This limitation in actual application of data may be a result either of a paucity of effective interpretive models or a failure of technology developers to communicate potential application techniques to the ultimate users. Some applications, such as using shear-wave data to image through gas clouds, have received almost immediate acceptance by the end users, while other applications, such as lithology and pore-fluid discrimination and prediction, have been slower to be widely applied.

A review of published applications addressing some of the specific concerns of interpreters and end users of conventional P-P and newer P-SV seismic data may help us break down the perceived barriers to application of all the seismic data available to solve exploration, production, and reservoir characterization and monitoring problems. Overall, successful application of multicomponent data to solve a variety of new problems will depend upon dissemination of not only new technology but also the information we already have from existing technology.