oa Designing seismic surveys in Greater Burgan field, Kuwait, utilizing forward modeling concepts

The Greater Burgan field consists of the Burgan, Magwa and Ahmadi structures. The Burgan structure is an anticlinal dome with a large number of faults. The three main reservoir units in the Greater Burgan field are the Wara, Mauddud, and the massive Burgan sandstones. The deeper reservoirs, namely the Lower Cretaceous Ratawi and Minagish limestones and the Jurassic Marrat Formation also contain significant oil reserves but are less substantial. Between 1976 and 1987, 2-D seismic data were acquired across the field. From 1996–1998 3-D conventional seismic data was acquired and during 2005, two pilot surveys were acquired utilizing single-sensor technology to assess the applicability of this technology in enhancing both spatial and temporal resolution.<br>Processing and analysis of legacy and single-sensor data indicated that the signal/noise ratio and bandwidth of the reflection response might be strongly influenced by near-surface transmission effects. We used finitedifference modeling to understand these effects and to test whether various acquisition techniques employing surface and buried sources and/or receivers might improve data quality. Near-surface visco-elastic property estimates, derived from log data, combined with geostatistical simulations of lateral Earth properties were used to generate 1-D and 2-D models. These data were processed to illustrate the effects of the shallow geological section on deeper reflection returns. It is anticipated that based on this study future field trials can be designed so as to provide a step change in the seismic data quality in the Greater Burgan field.