Interpretation advances in noisy data areas

Noisy data are often resigned to the “too hard” basket, and an expectation exists that incremental improvements in processing effort and technology will slowly recover interpretation confidence over a long period of time. Fortunately, acquisition technology has improved significantly in recent years, and high-density 3D acquisition methods (multi-streamer, OBC, and land) are now able to provide an optimally sampled 3D dataset, which will facilitate a long shelf life of sophisticated processing applications. Naturally, strong challenges remain for processing success in difficult areas, but the growth of “true” 3D seismic processing algorithms (eg, pre-stack migration, SRME demultiple, and other noise attenuation tools) is a direct complement to the growth of high-density 3D acquisition methods. Overall, the applications of better acquisition and processing technology in exploration are producing larger data volumes, demanding more rigorous and sophisticated processing efforts, and requiring the input of a more diverse range of experts.