Interpretation of Broadband Land 3D Data from Saudi Arabia

A broadband, high-density, full azimuth 3D land survey was acquired in 2011 over a producing oil and gas field in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The survey was designed to test a combination of point receiver sensors and a specially designed low frequency sweep for use in improved reservoir property prediction. Interpretation of this broadband, high density, full azimuth land 3D survey shows the beneficial impact of the increased bandwidth and improved signal- to-noise ratio on the interpretation of seismic data. The recovery of low frequency signals has dramatic implications for seismic inversion, as less reliance can be placed on the initial model. Moreover structural clarity and resolution can be achieved in the interpretation of both shallow and deeper levels. Results from this work indicate that a more accurate representation of the wave field is achieved with this broadband, full azimuth dataset, with the recovery of low frequency signal being one of the most notable aspects. This has a dramatic impact on both the interpretation and the seismic inversion.