WAVEFORM INVERSION BY MULTIPLE SHOT-ENCODING FOR NON-FIXED SPREAD GEOMETRIES

• US 20120215506A1
• Filed: 02/10/2012
• Published: 08/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WesternGeco LLC (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: WesternGeco LLC (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Rickett, James E., Childs, Paul N.
• Granted Patent: US 9,702,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/282 Application of seismic models, synthetic seismograms
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/21 Frequency-domain filtering, e.g. band pass
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/24 Multi-trace filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/614 Synthetically generated data

Abstract

Seismic data processing methods and computing systems are presented. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed that includes simulating a set of simulated seismic data from a set of acquired seismic data; separating the simulated seismic data into a plurality of data sets, wherein one set of data is matched in the acquired seismic data and one set of data is unmatched in the acquired seismic data; conforming the simulated seismic data and the acquired seismic data to one another using separated, simulated seismic data unmatched by a counterpart in the acquired seismic data from the acquired seismic data; and performing an inversion between the acquired seismic data and the separated, simulated seismic data after they are conformed to one another.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for use in processing seismic data, the method comprising:

simulating a set of simulated seismic data from a set of acquired seismic data;

separating the simulated seismic data into a plurality of data sets, wherein one set of data is matched in the acquired seismic data and one set of data is unmatched in the acquired seismic data;

conforming the simulated seismic data and the acquired seismic data to one another using separated, simulated seismic data unmatched by a counterpart in the acquired seismic data from the acquired seismic data; and

performing an inversion between the acquired seismic data and the separated, simulated seismic data after they are conformed to one another.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein separating the simulated seismic data includes shot separating the simulated seismic data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein separating the simulated seismic data includes predicting the data that is unmatched in the acquired seismic data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein predicting the data includes Plane wave modeling, f-x modeling, or Radon modeling.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein predicting the data exploits incoherence of multiple shots in domains other than common shot.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein predicting the data utilizes information from geometry of the recorded data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the separation is limited to separated, simulated seismic data unmatched by a counterpart in the acquired seismic data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein conforming the simulated seismic data and the acquired seismic data to one another includes eliminating separated, simulated seismic data unmatched by a counterpart in the acquired seismic data from the acquired seismic data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the separated, simulated seismic data includes a recorded wavefield whose simulated data is matched by data in the acquired seismic data and a non-recorded wavefield whose simulated data is unmatched by data in the acquired seismic data; and

conforming the simulated seismic data and the acquired seismic data includes muting the non-recorded wavefields in the simulated seismic data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein conforming the simulated seismic data and the acquired seismic data includes:

computing the missing wavefield in the separated, simulated seismic data; and

removing the missing data of the missing wavefield from the simulated seismic data.

11. The method of claim 10,

wherein the acquired data comprises common shot gathers, and

the method further comprises combining the common shot gathers of the acquired data;

and

wherein the inversion is performed between the combined acquired seismic data and the simulated seismic data from which the missing wavefield has been removed.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein combining the acquired data includes the same choice of shots as in the simulated data, or the same encoding as the simulated data, or local interpolation to colocate proximally recorded traces prior to combination, or flex-binning, or some combination thereof

13. The method of claim 11 where the set of shots being simulated and the nature of their encoding in the joint simulation is chosen to facilitate their separation.

14. The method of claim 11, where some local interpolation or flex-binning is performed prior to combination.

15. A computing apparatus, comprising:

a computing device;

a storage accessible by the computing device;

a software component residing on the storage that, when invoked by the computing device, performs a method for use in processing seismic data, the method comprising;

simulating a set of simulated seismic data from a set of acquired seismic data;

separating the simulated seismic data into a plurality of data sets, wherein one set of data is matched in the acquired seismic data and one set of data is unmatched in the acquired seismic data;

eliminating separated, simulated seismic data unmatched in the acquired seismic data; and

performing an inversion between the acquired seismic data and the separated, simulated seismic data after eliminating the unmatched simulated seismic data.

16. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein separating the simulated seismic data includes shot separating the simulated seismic data.

17. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein separating the simulated seismic data includes predicting the data that is unmatched in the acquired seismic data.

18. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein in the method:

the separated, simulated seismic data includes a recorded wavefield whose simulated data is matched by data in the acquired seismic data and a non-recorded wavefield whose simulated data is unmatched by data in the acquired seismic data; and

eliminating the unmatched simulated seismic data includes muting the non-recorded wavefields.

19. The computing apparatus of claim 15, wherein eliminating the unmatched simulated seismic data in the method includes:

computing the missing wavefield in the separated, simulated seismic data; and

removing the missing data of the missing wavefield from the simulated seismic data.