GX TECHNOLOGY | Data Processing, Imaging and Reservoir Services Data Processing, Imaging and Reservoir Services Regardless of the oil & gas exploration environment, reducing risk and optimizing production is the name of the game. Whether working with complex marine salt bodies or unconventional shale reservoirs, the goal is the same – better quantifying risk and reducing time to first oil. ADVANCED DATA PROCESSING ION’s GX Technology (GXT) group is a leader in advanced land, seabed and marine imaging, including pre- stack depth migration (PreSDM). Oil & gas companies apply our high end solutions to produce the highest fidelity subsurface images. By developing new technologies and new methodologies, we provide our clients with a full range of seismic data processing services that enable you to gain significantly greater value from your seismic data. GLOBAL EXPERIENCE We continue to expand our footprint, honing our regional expertise around the world. With partnerships and processing centers strategically located worldwide, GXT delivers unparalleled technical expertise and provides a better understanding of the subsurface to help reduce exploration and production risk. Unsurpassed CAPACITY AND THROUGHPUT Our globally distributed network of Linux-clusters, each scaled to local needs, combined with our major compute hubs in Houston and Egham allows us to routinely conduct some of the largest imaging projects in the industry. COLLABORATIVE Working collaboratively with you, we help accelerate the introduction of new methods and technologies. Whether working to better appraise or develop a particular area or seeking to discover new prospects in a region, we work closely with your company to deliver solutions for your exploration and development challenges within required budget and timing constraints. 1 Data Processing, Imaging and Reservoir Services TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 Pre-Processing 9 Multicomponent Processing and Imaging 6 Velocity Model Building 10 Reservoir Characterization 7 Advanced Imaging PRE-PROCESSING Regardless of acquisition type, data conditioning to enhance signal-to-noise ratio, preserve amplitude, control phase, and maintain frequency over a broad bandwidth is paramount to a better understanding of the subsurface. GXT uses rigorous noise analysis and removal tools, and specially developed statistical and global quality control methods to accomplish these goals. In addition to pre-processing steps common to all data types, we offer a portfolio of technologies and workflows tailored to the specific challenges of marine, land and seabed environments. Below are examples of our key technologies. WiBand™ Deghosting and Processing The industry is seeing a significant uptake of broadband technologies to deliver a full range of frequencies required for high fidelity images and accurate quantitative results from inversion. In marine data, for example, the problem of ghost notches generally limits frequency bandwidth and data resolution. Acquisition based de-ghosting solutions are expensive and do not address the ghost notch issue for data acquired by traditional towed streamers. These seismic inversions are from a 2D line processed using conventional (left) versus WiBand processing (right). Note the better definition of the stratigraphy and improved well tie of the data processed with WiBand. Data courtesy of Searcher Seismic. WiBand de-ghosting and processing tackles both the source and receiver ghosts to recover the full spectrum of towed streamer data with effectiveness approaching an acquisition solution, but at a far lower cost. WiBand solution delivers improved resolution and clarity while providing more robust inversions and ties to well data – “the ground truth.” WiBand technology can be utilized for flat or variable - depth streamers, new data acquisitions and the reprocessing of conventionally acquired or legacy data. The technology greatly improves seismic interpretation through improved fault definition, horizon delineation, and attribute analysis, allowing E&P companies to make more accurate decisions in exploration and reservoir development. ION has extensive experience in broadband technologies with almost 50 projects and more than 27,000 kilometers of 2D and 30,000 square kilometers of 3D seismic data processed to-date. 2 Data Processing, Imaging and Reservoir Services Complete Ongoing To Start → More than 20 3D projects either complete or underway, and 30,000 square kilometers processed. → More than 25 2D projects either complete or underway, and 27,500 kilometers processed. GXT’s WiBand project experience Noise Attenuation Depending on the acquisition type, a broad range of noise types must be attenuated to preserve primary signal. Recorded data can be contaminated by coherent or random noise. Marine noise sources include, but are not limited to, seismic acquisition vessels, shipping lanes, platform infrastructure, strumming from the vessel, cables and buoys, surface waves, and swell noise. Land noise sources may include ground roll and air blast, coherent road and drill rig noise as well as cultural noise. For seabed acquisition, unique noise conditions that should be attenuated include Sholte waves, shear wave leakage, swell noise in shallow water, strum and others. Our core noise removal algorithm, SWDNOISE, is a frequency dependent, data adaptive method capable of attenuating noise bursts, spikes and swell noise. For organized noise, GXT offers effective radial filter tools and has extensive modeling experience in the fk, fkk, and tau-p domains followed by adaptive matching and subtraction. Surface Related Multiple Elimination (3D SRME) Surface Related Multiple Elimination (3D SRME) is a model-based multiple suppression method that is fully data driven, and the only input needed is the data to be modeled. The user need not identify the multiple generating interfaces. It works well in both moderately shallow and deep-water marine environments; in addition, our 3D SRME toolkit is fully applicable to both WAZ and NAZ datasets. GXT pioneered 3D SRME in 2005 and has extensive experience processing tens of thousands of square kilometers. Short Period Multiple Attenuation (SPMA) Data acquisition in shallow water introduces noise in the form of short-period multiples that may not be effectively removed using traditional 3D SRME technologies. GXT employs a proprietary Short Period Multiple Attenuation (SPMA) technique, in combination with 3D SRME to remove this type of noise. This method uses pre-stack migration 3 Data Processing, Imaging and Reservoir Services Stack data from Brazil before (left) and after (right) SPMA. SPMA offers multiple attenuation in shallow water to overcome missing near offset data. to overcome the problem of predicting multiples when near-offset data are missing, then uses standard adaptive subtraction and matching techniques to attenuate the short period reverberations. The benefit of the technique is that it runs efficiently in combination with 3D SRME and effectively attenuates short-period multiples. This method is also tailored to address unique seabed acquisition issues. Interbed Multiple Attenuation Our Interbed Multiple Attenuation (IMA) algorithm can be used to remove multiples in land, marine and seabed data. IMA is an extension of the SRME model/subtraction methodology used to remove peg-leg and interbed multiples. Our approach to multiple attenuation involves signal processing, SRME to attenuate surface multiples, followed by a step to attenuate remaining interbed multiples using IMA. We leverage our geophysical expertise and this sophisticated method to efficiently remove interbed multiples on large surveys. A seismic stack from a field in Canada before multiple removal (left). The same seismic line A seismic section from the same Canadian field (right) processed using GX Technology’s interbed multiple attenuation (IMA) solution. Note as images to the left illustrating that the synthetics the removal of multiples as noted in red. tie GXT’s Offset Vector Tile (OVT) prestack time migration processing with IMA. Note the removal of multiples in the area within the red circle. System Calibration, Wavefield Separation and PZ Summation In addition to logistical advantages over towed streamer acquisition, a key advantage of OBC acquisition is the ability to use the combined response of dual sensor recording (hydrophones and vertical geophones) to discriminate and effectively suppress receiver-side water column multiples from the data. First, system calibration removes the phase and amplitude differences between hydrophone and vertical geophone responses. A wavefield separation approach (PZ 4 Seabed Projects 45 seabed processing projects including OBC, node, 2C, 4C, PP and PS PSTM/PSDM. Summation) then exploits upgoing waves and downgoing waves to not only remove receiver-side multiples, but to reduce the acquisition footprint and improve illumination. Combining up and downgoing waves further reduces noise and multiples, removes ghost notches, and broadens the frequency spectrum, thereby improving the overall quality of the seabed data for imaging. In addition, the availability of the separated downgoing wavefield facilitates mirror- migration in deeper water, so as to increase the size of the imaged area. Regularization During seismic data acquisition, whether land, marine or seabed, there are many factors that may cause data to be sampled both sparsely and irregularly. As a result, noise and amplitude or structural distortions may impede the clarity of the subsurface image.