Surface-Subsurface Integration Reveals Faults in Gulf of Suez Oilfields

Reservoir mapping in the Gulf of Suez petroleum system is challenging because rifting broke up the reservoirs by transform and cross faults. We have developed a technique which integrates fault outcrop mapping using satellite image interpretation, seismic near-surface characterization techniques such as Rayleigh wave velocity mapping and rayparameter interferometry as well as ant tracking of faults and geobody extraction on a PSTM cube. The technique utilizes a combination of GIS and Petrel for surface-subsurface integration. The joint analysis of Rayleigh wave data with satellite imagery provides a near-surface structural geologic model, which is interpreted for shallow drilling risks. The suite of near-surface geological products is enabled by the acquisition, processing and interpretation of point receiver seismic data acquired by Q-Land. For the first time detailed structural geology could be imaged in the near-surface, a data regime, which is conventionally contaminated by the footprint of the seismic acquisition.