Applied Geophysics in Shell Europe's Mature Asset

Shell Europe's 'Mature Asset' operates some 20 fields in the Northern and Central North Sea with a total oil production of approximately 19000 M^3/day. These fields include ageing fields like the Cormorants, the Dunlin cluster and the younger Tern field. <br>Geophysics plays a key role in the integrated discipline teams working those mature fields, both for surveillance activities as well as in the pursuit of infill opportunities in those Jurassic and Triassic type reservoir fields. <br>A wide range of high-end geophysical technologies are routinely deployed. Prestack Depth Migration has a proven track record in these fields despite a relatively benign overburden and is now being deployed as a minimum standard. Time Lapse seismic has been used in particular over the Tern and Cormorant fields, and the results are routinely integrated in the updates of the reservoir models and identification of infill opportunities. Full-field 3D and 4D model driven forward modelling helps us 'close the loop' between static and dynamic models and the seismic data. Advanced inversion technologies are being used for the prediction of reservoir properties and their distribution. This paper discusses some of the results of those technologies todate and illustrates their business value.<br>