oa 3D OBC Seismic Survey Parameters Optimization for a Carbonate Field Offshore Abu Dhabi, UAE

A 3D OBC pilot seismic survey was conducted in a carbonate field of offshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with the main objectives: (1) to demonstrate imaging of the Upper Jurassic Arab formation; and (2) to optimize survey parameters for future seismic surveys. In this highly-specified pilot seismic survey, two orthogonal 3D datasets were acquired, and one swath 3D dataset was simulated by sampling shot-points parallel to receiver-lines. Twenty-three cubes were generated from these datasets by decimating the full data. The relationship between data quality and operational effort was determined by analyzing twenty-three cubes qualitatively and quantitatively from the structure interpretability point of view. The pilot seismic survey confirmed expected results that higher operational effort lead to higher data quality in general. However, the results also indicated that extremely high operational effort is poorly rewarded with little improvement of data quality. The methodology and results will be used to assist in establishing and optimizing survey parameters for future seismic surveys offshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.