Enabling Decision Making for Carbon-Storage Sites through Regional Rapid-Turnaround Re-Imaging of Legacy Datasets in the Southern-North-Sea

Following the first UK carbon storage license round in September 2022, SLB initiated a fast-track reprocessing project to support license awardees and boost carbon storage investment in the Solepit basin, Southern North Sea. This project aimed to enhance data quality using modern processing techniques, creating a merged volume that reduces uncertainty in storage site screening caused by legacy data. The Solepit area, covered by 26 vintage surveys, had limitations in the acquired data, making regional subsurface evaluation challenging. This reprocessing project produced an integrated regional image and velocity model over the entire area, focusing on two main carbon storage intervals: the shallow Triassic Bunter sandstone and the deeper Permian Leman sandstone. This case study addresses challenges of data pre-conditioning, using techniques like survey matching, adaptive deghosting, and demultiple. Legacy velocity models were merged and pre-conditioned for tomography inversion, resulting in a consistent regional model. The improved imaging techniques enhanced shallow resolution, aiding overburden evaluation, and provided clearer images of geological features, reducing uncertainty in the interpretation of the Bunter sandstone reservoir and the deeper Permian Leman sandstone for carbon storage site assessments.