Automated and Real-time Field PSTM - How to QC More Efficiently 10 Billion Traces Today and More Tomorrow

A new automated and real-time field Pre-Stack Time Migration (PSTM) system and method has been developed and was applied during the acquisition of an onshore high-density 3D WAZ survey in Oman. During this five-month acquisition period, the real-time field PSTM system was used to migrate more than one million vibrated points (VPs) for a total of around 10 billion traces. Using a single standard computer, we incrementally generated a real-time field PSTM cube as the seismic shots were recorded. The incremental PSTM cubes were available in the field at any time during the acquisition for instantaneous quality control. Daily automatic reports and migrated seismic data were sent to the end users (i.e., client and processing center). Immediately after the last recorded VP, the complete field PSTM volume was ready to be delivered. The system is designed to work autonomously on a basic desktop PC and does not require extra staff. It is operational for almost all types of acquisition (land, marine, and seabed) regardless of the recording system.