From Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin (www.beg.utexas.edu).
For more information, please contact the author.

BEG Seminar, May 19, 2006

Seismic Depth Imaging in an Integrated Regional Framework — Innovating in the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico

Mihai Popovici, 3DGeo

Abstract:

Regional geologic context is an important factor in the effective assessment of exploration risk in frontier areas such as the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In deepwater Gulf of Mexico, exploration prospects have moved from the amplitude-driven plays of the 1990's to less amplitude-sensitive, older stratigraphy frequently below highly complicated salt canopies. The challenge has been to obtain both the regional scale and the subsurface information content in a timely and affordable fashion. For the largest companies, frameworks of large-scale 3-D programs and published well data have been helpful while conventional 2-D grids have traditionally provided only gross context. For industry, however, the challenge remains on how to achieve the necessary balance between scale and information content with acceptable time availability and budgetary objectives. With periodic OCS leasing turnover likely to provide significant acreage opportunities in 2006–2008, practical solutions to address region-wide context becomes especially important.

This presentation describes a new, fully integrated, region-wide seismic Framework that addresses this need. The approach incorporates:

• Long offset, long record length, high resolution data acquisition
• Integrated, area-wide subsurface model-building incorporating salt interpretive experience, seismic velocity estimation, and guidance from 3-D gravity control
• Pre-stack depth imaging techniques.

We implement a robust, integrated workflow with associated analytical tools to create a high quality seismic database that provides both regional scale and image detail in depth to support exploration understanding across this complex Gulf of Mexico geologic regime. We discuss the issues related to providing accurate seismic images in depth across this regionally consistent grid.

Alexander Mihai Popovici is Chief Technical Officer of 3DGeo, a state-of-the-art software, data processing and infrastructure provider for the upstream oil and gas industry he co-founded in 1995. He holds Ph.D.(1995) and M.Sc.(1991) degrees in geophysics from Stanford University, and a B.S. (1985) in geophysical and geological engineering from University of Bucharest, Romania. He escaped from Romania in 1986, crossed two borders at night and spent a year in a refugee camp in Austria. Dr. Popovici's industry experience includes work in the seismic processing research department for Halliburton Geophysical Services in Dallas and Houston, and EM acquisition and processing contracts with the University of Bucharest, Romania.

Popovici is active in the community; he was president of Casa Romana, a non-profit organization serving Americans of Romanian origin living in the Bay Area. He was elected to this position in 1997 and built the largest Romanian community center and church on the West Coast. At present he is Honorary Vice Consul of Romania in Houston.

Popovici is director on the board of the Romanian Education Foundation, which he founded in 1994, a charitable organization helping foreign students from impoverished families to apply at American and European universities. He is a scuba diving instructor, active fencer (ranked top ten in the veteran division of the US, and number one in the Bay Area veteran division in 2003), plays paintball with one of the first established pro teams (The Wild Geese, founded 1985), practices karate, rock climbs, and is working on his private pilot license.