Hybrid method for full waveform inversion using simultaneous and sequential source method

• US 8,437,998 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2010
• Issued: 05/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company (Exxon Mobil Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company (Exxon Mobil Corporation)
• Inventors: Routh, Partha S., Krebs, Jerome R., Marcinkovich, Carey, Lazaratos, Spyridon, Lee, Sunwoong
• Primary Examiner(s): Thangavelu, Kandasamy
• Application Number:
  US12/903,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20120073824A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 703/10, 166/266, 166/369, 367/73, 702/7, 702/14
• US Class Current: 703/10
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/005 with exploration systems emitting special signals, e.g. frequency swept signals, pulse sequences or slip sweep arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/28 Processing seismic data, e.g. for interpretation or for event detection G01V1/48 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/67 Wave propagation modeling

Abstract

Method for simultaneous full-wavefield inversion of gathers of source (or receiver) encoded geophysical data to determine a physical properties model for a subsurface region, especially suitable for surveys where fixed receiver geometry conditions were not satisfied in the data acquisition. First, a shallow time window of the data (202) where the fixed receiver condition is satisfied is inverted by simultaneous encoded (203) source inversion (205). Then, the deeper time window of the data (208) is inverted by sparse sequential source inversion (209), using the physical properties model from the shallow time window (206) as a starting model (207). Alternatively, the shallow time window model is used to simulate missing far offset data (211) producing a data set satisfying the stationary receiver assumption, after which this data set is source encoded (212) and inverted by simultaneous source inversion (214).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for full-wavefield inversion of measured geophysical data to determine a physical properties model for a subsurface region, comprising:

using a computer to invert a selected shallow time window of arrivals from the measured geophysical data by simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion to obtain a first physical properties model for the subsurface region;

using a computer to invert the measured geophysical data, or a selected deep time window of arrivals from the measured geophysical data, by iterative sequential source inversion to obtain a second physical properties model for the subsurface region, wherein the first physical properties model is used as a starting model and a set of source locations is used to update the second physical properties model in the iterative sequential source inversion; and

outputting, displaying, or saving to data storage the second physical properties model of the subsurface region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the shallow time window consists of arrival times smaller than arrival times for fastest propagation modes at longest offsets, wherein offset is source-receiver spacing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein how many source locations are used to update the second physical properties model in the iterative sequential source inversion is determined based at least in part on spatial wavelength of the second physical properties model and maximum available offsets in the measured geophysical data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of source locations used to update the second physical properties model in the iterative sequential source inversion consists of fewer source locations than are represented in the measured geophysical data or are used in the simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

missing data for negative offsets in the selected shallow time window of arrivals are filled from positive offset data using source-receiver reciprocity; and

missing near-offset data in the selected shallow time window of arrivals are provided with estimated values, or, alternatively, receivers that were a near offset for some source shot are not considered in the method.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured geophysical data were acquired in a survey using non-stationary receivers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising using iterative inversion in the simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion, wherein the sources and or receivers are encoded using a selected set of encoding functions, and wherein a different set of encoding functions is selected for at least one of the iterations.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured geophysical data are seismic data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion comprises:

(a) obtaining a group of two or more encoded gathers of the measured geophysical data for the shallow time window, wherein each gather is associated with a single generalized source or with a single receiver, and wherein each gather is encoded with a different encoding signature selected from a set of non-equivalent encoding signatures;

(b) summing the encoded gathers in the group by summing all data records in each gather that correspond to a single receiver, or to a single source if receiver gathers are used, and repeating for each different receiver or source, resulting in a simultaneous encoded gather;

(c) assuming a physical properties model of the subsurface region, said assumed model providing values of at least one physical property at locations in the subsurface region;

(d) calculating an update to the assumed physical properties model that is more consistent with the simultaneous encoded gather from step (b), said calculation involving one or more encoded simultaneous source forward or reverse simulation operations that use the assumed physical properties model and encoded source signatures using the same encoding functions used to encode corresponding gathers of measured data, wherein an entire simultaneous encoded gather is simulated in a single simulation operation;

(e) repeating step (d) at least one more iteration, using the updated physical properties model from the previous iteration of step (d) as the assumed model to produce a further updated physical properties model of the subsurface region that is more consistent with a corresponding simultaneous encoded gather of measured data, using the same encoding signatures for source signatures in the simulation as were used in forming the corresponding simultaneous encoded gather of measured data; and

(f) taking the further updated physical properties model for the first physical properties model.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising obtaining at least one additional group of two or more encoded gathers of the measured geophysical data as in step (a), and performing step (b) for each additional group, then accumulating the corresponding updates to the physical properties model from step (d), wherein the updated physical properties model to be used in step (e) is based on the accumulated updates.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said encoded gathers of measured data are encoded by temporally convolving all traces from a gather with the encoding signature selected for the gather.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the two or more encoded gathers of measured data are obtained by obtaining gathers of data from a geophysical survey in which data are acquired from a plurality of simultaneously operating, uniquely encoded source devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion comprises:

(a) obtaining a group of two or more encoded gathers of the measured geophysical data from the shallow time window, wherein each gather is associated with a single generalized source or with a single receiver, and wherein each gather is encoded with a different encoding function selected from a set of non-equivalent encoding functions;

(b) summing the encoded gathers in the group by summing all data records in each gather that correspond to a single receiver, or to a single source if receiver gathers are used, and repeating for each different receiver or source, resulting in a simultaneous encoded gather;

(c) assuming a physical properties model of the subsurface region, said model providing values of at least one physical property at locations in the subsurface region;

(d) inverting the group of two or more encoded gathers, one encoded gather at a time, all data traces in each encoded gathered being inverted simultaneously, using the assumed physical properties model as an initial model and iteratively updating said model to minimize a cost function measuring degree of misfit between model-simulated data and the measured geophysical data in the encoded gathers to generate an updated physical properties model, wherein model adjustments are made using a gradient of the cost function with respect to at least one model parameter, which gradient is computed from a time integration of a product of encoded simultaneous-source data simulated forward in time and encoded simultaneous-source data simulated backward in time; and

(e) taking the updated physical properties model as the first physical properties model.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said encoded gathers of measured data are encoded by temporally convolving all traces from a gather with the encoding function selected for the gather.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the two or more encoded gathers of measured data are obtained by obtaining gathers of data from a geophysical survey in which data are acquired from a plurality of simultaneously operating, uniquely encoded source devices.

16. A method for producing hydrocarbons from a subsurface region, comprising:

performing a geophysical survey of the subsurface region resulting in measured geophysical data;

processing the measured geophysical data on a computer by a method of claim 1 to generate a physical properties model of the subsurface region;

assessing hydrocarbon potential of the subsurface region using the physical properties model; and

drilling a well into the subsurface region based at least in part on the assessment of hydrocarbon potential, and producing hydrocarbons from the well.

20. A method for producing hydrocarbons from a subsurface region, comprising:

performing a geophysical survey of the subsurface region resulting in measured geophysical data;

processing the measured geophysical data on a computer by a method of claim 8 to generate a physical properties model of the subsurface region;

assessing hydrocarbon potential of the subsurface region using the physical properties model; and

drilling a well into the subsurface region based at least in part on the assessment of hydrocarbon potential, and producing hydrocarbons from the well.

17. A computer-implemented method for full-wavefield inversion of measured geophysical data to determine a physical properties model for a subsurface region, comprising:

using a computer to invert a selected shallow time window of arrivals from the measured geophysical data by simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion to obtain a first physical properties model for the subsurface region;

using the first physical properties model to simulate, using a computer, synthetic data for longer offsets corresponding to arrivals from deeper than said shallow time window;

using a computer to invert the measured geophysical data, wherein the data with longer offsets are augmented, said inversion being simultaneous encoded sources and/or encoded receivers inversion, to obtain a second physical properties model of the subsurface region, wherein said augmented data with longer offsets are sum of the synthetic data for longer offsets and the measured data at the longer offsets; and

outputting, displaying, or saving to data storage the second physical properties model of the subsurface region.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the measured geophysical data were acquired in a survey using non-stationary receivers.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein:

all simultaneous encoded source inversions are iterative,

the sources are encoded using a selected set of encoding functions, and

a different set of encoding functions is selected for at least one of the iterations.

21. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for full-wavefield inversion of measured geophysical data to determine a physical properties model for a subsurface region, said method comprising:

inverting a selected shallow time window of arrivals from the measured geophysical data by simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion to obtain a first physical properties model for the subsurface region;

inverting the measured geophysical data, or a selected deep time window of arrivals from the measured geophysical data, by iterative sequential source inversion to obtain a second physical properties model for the subsurface region, wherein the first physical properties model is used as a starting model and a set of source locations is used to update the second physical properties model in the iterative sequential source inversion; and

outputting, displaying, or saving to data storage the second physical properties model of the subsurface region.

22. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for full-wavefield inversion of measured geophysical data to determine a physical properties model for a subsurface region, said method comprising:

inverting a selected shallow time window of arrivals from the measured geophysical data by simultaneous encoded sources and/or receivers inversion to obtain a first physical properties model for the subsurface region;

using the first physical properties model to simulate synthetic data for longer offsets corresponding to arrivals from deeper than said shallow time window;

inverting the measured geophysical data, wherein the data with longer offsets are augmented, said inversion being simultaneous encoded sources and/or encoded receivers inversion, to obtain a second physical properties model of the subsurface region, wherein said augmented data with longer offsets are sum of the synthetic data for longer offsets and the measured data at the longer offsets; and

outputting, displaying, or saving to data storage the second physical properties model of the subsurface region.