oa 2-D transition-zone seismic processing on the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia: A case history

From July 2005 until February 2007, a 2-D transition zone seismic survey, covering the Arabian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, was acquired and processed. The purpose of the project was to further delineate previously identified leads, locate any further leads and to extend and tie the interpretation of known horizons from the land to the marine environment. The 2-D seismic data was acquired using three source and three receiver types on a 10 x 10 km grid. The survey extended from water depths of 30 m in the marine environment, to elevations of 30 m on land. The challenges that were encountered included: (1) consistent phase for the three sources and three receiver types; (2) effective ocean-bottom cable (OBC) dual-sensor summation; (3) near-surface statics solution, including line ties; (4) surface-consistent processing; and (5) tying the velocities. An example line is used to show how each challenge was approached and solved, with special emphasis on the OBC dual-sensor summation and the near-surface statics solution. The tying of the data, both in time and velocity, was of paramount importance to the success of the project, and the methodology for both is demonstrated, including the use of a 3-D solution to resolve the 2-D time-tying problem. New methods and<br>software were developed to further enhance the processing and quality-control capabilities to ensure consistency in our solutions, and these will be highlighted. Finally, we will show how the final migrated data was tied to an existing 2-D marine streamer survey enabling the interpretation of the two surveys to be unified.