9
life of the field through the building and refining of reser-
voir models. In this process, the value of seismic data is
indisputable—it is the only measurement made at the
reservoir scale, and it is used from discovery and develop-
ment through production management.
Exploration Begins with Seismic
Establishing a clear picture of subsurface fairways and
traps is the starting point of any successful exploration
campaign. Building on a seismic science and technology
platform that features proprietary WesternGeco Q* tech-
nology—still the only point-receiver acquisition system
in the world—Schlumberger continues to develop the
ability to illuminate the subsurface, helping customers
identify and mitigate exploration risk by using techniques
such as wide-azimuth acquisition and full-waveform inver-
sion. In 2009, we introduced the innovative Coil Shooting*
technique, a single-vessel full-azimuth method in which
the seismic acquisition vessel sails in a spiral of overlap-
ping circles, recording continuously, to deliver full-
azimuth data. Coil Shooting acquisition not only delivers
significantly increased illumination, but can also be more
cost-effective than alternative advanced towing configura-
tions because the down time linked to turning the vessel
to conduct the next pass is completely eliminated.
Sophisticated Coil Shooting surveys can address the
combined needs of deeper water and more complex geo-
logical environments such as subsalt, sub-basalt, and deep
carbonates that are usually beyond the capabilities of con-
ventional seismic surveys. Even in these environments,
Schlumberger technologies deliver highly reliable subsur-
face models, particularly when tight integration between
datasets is required—this year’s extension of Petrel*
workflow software by Schlumberger Information Solutions
to fully cover exploration through production activities
greatly facilitates that critical coordination.
Building on the success of the single-vessel Coil
Shooting technique, we recently introduced Dual Coil
Shooting* multivessel full-azimuth acquisition. The
synergy of two recording vessels, each with its own source,
as well as two separate source vessels, all sailing in the
same interlinked circles, creates unprecedented seismic
coverage of deep and complex exploration prospects.
Schlumberger is the only company to be able to offer this
service, joining our numerous innovative technologies
with our leading processing and interpretation expertise.
To date, Dual Coil Shooting surveys have been completed
in all major exploration areas and new surveys are
being planned.
WesternGeco pioneered the single-sensor approach for
both land and marine data with the introduction of
Q technology. Following a decade’s experience in single-
sensor land acquisition, the introduction of the new UniQ*
land system takes this approach a step further by moving
to an areal network of relatively sparse point receivers
that use proprietary workflows to extract high-fidelity sig-
nals. Tests show that this approach delivers significantly
improved data quality but without the dense sampling
that was previously necessary. UniQ technology opens the
door to a completely different way of designing and
executing land surveys, in which the 200,000-channel
capacity of the system is paired with WesternGeco
data management and processing workflows to offer
unparalleled freedom to design surveys for detailed tar-
Data Quality
To ensure the quality of the data being
acquired, acquisition specialists check
and monitor recording, streamer control,
and seismic source systems. Chief
Acquisition Specialist Gary Cook (seated)
and Senior Acquisition Specialist
Edgar Manik are shown here on board
the
WG Vespucci.
