Seismic streamer receiver selection systems and methods

• US 7,660,192 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2005
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Services Petroliers Schlumberger (Schlumberger NV), Westerngeco Canada Limited (Schlumberger NV), WesternGeco LLC (Schlumberger NV), Westerngeco Seismic Holdings Ltd (SLB)
• Original Assignee: WesternGeco LLC (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Paulsen, Jens Olav
• Primary Examiner(s): Keith; Jack W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BREIER, KRYSTINE E
• Application Number:
  US11/127,546
• Publication Number:
  US 20060256654A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,734 Days
• Field of Search: 367 15- 20, 181108-112
• US Class Current: 367/19
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/38 specially adapted for water-covered areas G01V1/28 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining inline skew of one or more seismic streamers are disclosed. One system embodiment includes a seismic streamer including a plurality of receivers, a skew detector adapted to detect inline skew of the streamer, and a receiver selector adapted to select which receivers in the streamer to use in data acquisition based on the detected streamer inline skew. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract, which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

(a) a seismic streamer including a plurality of receivers;

(b) a skew detector configured to detect inline skew of the streamer; and

(c) a receiver selector configured to select which receivers in the streamer to use in data acquisition based on the detected streamer inline skew.

2. The system of claim 1 comprising multiple streamers.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the skew detector is included in a streamer position determination system.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the streamer position determination system comprises components selected from one or more acoustic ranging networks, components of a Global Positioning System, magnetic compasses, and combinations thereof.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the receiver selector selects which receiver in the streamer is the first receiver.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein each streamer has N normal receivers and M redundant receivers.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the M redundant receivers are split between M1 receivers at the front of the streamer and M2 receivers at the tail end of the streamer.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein M1 equals M2.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein M1 does not equal M2.

10. The system of claim 4 wherein the streamers include sufficient acoustic transmitters and receivers to perform acoustic ranging.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the skew detector includes one or more skew sensors selected from optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, acoustic sensors, and combinations thereof.

12. A method comprising:

(a) towing a seismic streamer having receivers;

(b) sensing inline skew of at least a portion of the streamer;

(c) selecting the receivers to use in seismic data acquisition using the sensed inline skew; and

(d) acquiring seismic data with the selected receivers.

13. The method of claim 12 comprising towing a plurality of streamers.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein sensing the skew is included within a method of sensing streamer position.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the streamer positioning comprises acoustic ranging.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein said selecting the receivers to use in data acquisition includes selecting a first receiver in each streamer.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein said selecting the receivers to use comprises selecting a spare receiver in at least one spare streamer section to be a first receiver.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein when the sensing of inline skew occurs continuously, the selecting of the receivers to use occurs continuously.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the receivers comprise N normal receivers and M redundant receivers.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of providing a skew detector configured to determine the inline skew of the streamer.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the skew detector includes one or more skew sensors selected from optical sensors, photoelectric sensors, acoustic sensors, and combinations thereof.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein the M redundant receivers are split between M1 receivers at the front of the streamer and M2 receivers at the tail end of the streamer.