Will Schlumberger's Q system provide the cue to a revolution in seismic acquisition

Schlumberger has launched Q-Land, the first component of what it hopes will be a revolution in seismic data acquisition and processing. Andrew McBarnet reviews the evidence so far. Can it justify the hype? That's the question that the exploration industry will be asking now that Schlumberger Oilfield Services has unveiled Q-Land, the first component of what is claimed to be a revolutionary seismic acquisition and processing system. CEO Euan Baird was on hand for the official launch of the system in March at the Bahrain Geo 2000 exhibition which suggests that the company itself believes it is onto something significant with its new Q-Land technology. Visitors to Glasgow EAGE 2000 will be able to judge for themselves later this month. In the meantime we know that QLand in Schlumbergerís mind represents quality and a quantum leap in seismic imaging technology, which represents a platform for continuous improvements spanning not just land but marine and borehole applications. The company says that the Q-Land revolution, as opposed to evolution, arose as a result of scientists and engineers returning to first principles to overcome limitations in current practice. They came up with the Q-Land system which records single sensors rather than grouped arrays of sensors as found in conventional systems and offers a real time 30†000 channel acquisition capability (at 2†ms sample rate), a stunning increase on the maximum number of channels currently being used. In summary, Q-Land is designed to provide enhanced imaging quality and resolution to improve selection of targets and well locations, reduce acquisition time, offer proof to verify booking of reserves and ultimately assist production and reserve management. Mario Ruscev, president Schlumberger Reservoir Evaluation Seismic, said the Q system would 'prove particularly beneficial to any client whose prospect has complex logistics, a poor signal-to-noise ration, groundroll contamination, statics problems or elevation variations,' adding that specific applications included 3D multicomponent seismic, high resolution imaging and avoiding potential drilling hazards. The system was qualified in 1999 and is now operational in the Middle East.