Optimizing Reverse-Time Migration

As the exploration for hydrocarbons faces more and more challenging structures, reverse-time migration, which is capable of imaging complex geological settings, becomes the preferred imaging algorithm. Especially for the costly acquired wide-azimuth data sets, application of this high-end imaging method is even more appealing. Recently, reverse-time migration has been extended to transversely isotropic (TI) medium. The rapid advance in computing technology has made its routine application feasible. In this presentation, we will summarize the procedures undertaken at Hess to implement our proprietary reverse time migration software, which focuses on the discussion of numerical dispersion error in isotropic media, the stability and artifact issues in TI media and the noise problem introduced by the imaging condition.