An Improved Survey Evaluation and Design Workflow

Modern survey evaluation and design (SED) projects usually include the generation of full seismic surveys followed by processing of the synthetic data. Yet, this approach is expensive and inflexible. Although this “brute force” approach may be unavoidable in some situations, SED studies can benefit considerably from a more efficient ray-based workflow. This innovative workflow utilizes ray-generated Green’s functions to locally simulate PSDM cubes directly from a subsurface model. 3D illumination and resolution effects are fully taken into account so the need to generate and process large volumes of synthetic data is bypassed. Benefits include the opportunity to conduct full and detailed feasibility studies in a very short time scale, during which, the effect of survey, wavelet, overburden or reservoir variations on the expected seismic response can be tested. Furthermore, point spread functions can be used as a direct measure of the lateral and vertical resolution within the seismic data. This methodology is the essential core of a purely modeling-based SED workflow and can either be used as an innovative stand-alone survey planning tool or an efficient supplement to more conventional approaches. We present this efficient multi-purpose SED workflow and discuss its application using examples.