First Break - Volume 16, Issue 10, 1998

Sir John Browne's keynote address to the World Energy Congress laid out the challenges to the industry going into the next century, not least that of reacting responsibly to environmental concerns; First Break presents an edited extract.

There are plenty of oil and gas prospects awaiting imminent development in the UK offshore sector, but things aren't what they used to be, according to energy analyst Wood Mackenzie.

A ray-tracing study on a 3D seismic data set from the North Sea has been carried out. It demonstrates the relatively easy construction of a depth map based on the integration of seismic, well log and geological information. The depth map of the target horizon is computed by applying a stable 3D triangulation ray-tracing method. The initial input model corresponds to the geometry of horizons picked on seismic two-way time sections in a 3D data block. A dedicated workstation environment has been utilized to model and visualize the current test case. The current study focuses on the depth model improvement introduced by adopting a ray-tracing method that takes advantage of triangulation of the interface surfaces and computations in tetrahedral volumes. The 3D model building software permits not only the integration of data and interpretations from different disciplines, but equally provides a powerful manipulation and visualization tool. A main objective of the study is to evaluate the 3D capabilities of the software. Management of different computational options is made possible by treating various study items as objects.