Vertical Seismic Pitfalls - Problems in Archiving VSP Data

VSP (Vertical Seismic Profile) data are the poor relation of the oil exploration industry. They are neither fish nor fowl, neither simply well log data nor simply seismic and because they do not easily fit into a database set up for either of their more famous cousins, they can prove troublesome to archive, or at least troublesome to archive in their entirety. This paper describes some of the problems attached to the archiving of VSP data, by examining the variety of data (calibrated logs, velocity tables and reports, in addition to the seismic data) involved in a VSP archive. The particular problems inherent in the various data types are addressed, with special attention given to the seismic data. A recent feasibility study on loading VSP Data to the Common Data Access (CDA) DataStore is described, with an analysis of some of the problems encountered. Finally recommendations are made for archive procedures and for the media most suited to allow access to all aspects of the VSP.