Publications

In 2005, ConocoPhillips awarded WesternGeco Jakarta Data Processing Center Pre-STM reprocessing work for 3D marine seismic reflection data over the North Belut gas field in South Natuna Sea that was acquired in 1998 (the heritage survey). The reprocessed data showed improved continuity, reduced noise, and better AVO response compared to the original data. However, signal bandwidth was low, believed to be due to the intrinsic nature of the raw data (Challis et.al.2006). Soon after, ConocoPhillips and WesternGeco conducted a seismic survey design project with the objective of acquiring new information that would lead to a better understanding of the reservoirs and improve development well placement. If successful, this could ultimately reduce the final well count for the planned field development depending on required field performance. The seismic survey design process identified several criteria: bin-size, long offsets and improved sampling of the seismic wavefield (signal and noise) as key to affording the best opportunity of realizing the objective. QMarine was chosen by ConocoPhillips as the enabling technology to meet these objectives. The North Belut Q-Marine survey is the first QMarine survey in Indonesia. The acquisition was conducted between April and June 2006. Processing was carried out in the WesternGeco Jakarta Data Processing Center starting soon after the last shot was acquired, with initial processed data delivered six months later. The data were processed through a Pre-STM flow with additional processes to address specific issues of overburden anomalies. The QMarine seismic data showed significant improvements in spatial and temporal resolution compared to the 2005 reprocessed heritage data, with up to 15hz extension in the bandwidth in the zone of interest.