Simultaneous Source Acquisition - Achievements and Challenges

As hydrocarbons become more difficult to discover and produce the role of seismic grows ever more important. This challenges the industry to find ways to acquire seismic data not only more safely and efficiently but also to reach the quality required for sophisticated subsurface characterisation applied to increasingly complex reservoirs. BP has responded to this challenge in a number of ways. In this paper I review one aspect of this response – the development and deployment of techniques that exploit simultaneous sourcing, also known as blended acquisition. BP has deployed two techniques to great advantage in North Africa and the Middle East, where conventional acquisition simply could not have got close to meeting their challenging business, HSSE and technical requirements. BP has also tested and applied blended acquisition for OBS. Future challenges include the feasibility of deploying the technology in non-open desert terrains, where access for seismic crews is more difficult. It remains to be seen what the limits are to developing the technique further for OBS and towed-streamer seismic surveys. But we can be confident that simultaneous source acquisition delivers real value, and is here to stay.