American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019 - 60

SpecialReport: Seismic & Geophysics
Seismic data was used early on in unconventional applications more for identifying hazardous structural components
such as faults, folds, karsting and dip directions, Jumper explains. "By utilizing
more attribute-rich seismic data, the science is moving toward having the ability
to identify the most favorable rock for
completions," he says.
Consequently, seismic data is helping
operators figure out not only where to
drill to access the most "fraccable" rock,
but also how to drill with respect to selecting the best landing zone and planning
the well path on optimal spacing, Jumper
goes on. "Acquiring high-resolution 3-D
data with higher density and wider azimuth
also allows seismic data and attribute
analysis to be a better predictor of stratigraphy," he adds, noting that rock make
up is particularly critical in stacked resource plays with multiple prospective
pay zones.
"We have enough seismic data and
well control in the Permian Basin, in
particular, to have a pretty good idea of
the structural complexity, but we do not
know with nearly as much degree of certainty what the stratigraphic components
look like," explains Jumper. "As we increase density and apply analytics, there
is a better chance of using seismic data
as a predictor for rock stress, rock type,
and rock fabric for better placement of a

horizontal well in the sweet spot of an
unconventional reservoir."
High-Resolution 3-D Data
Dawson recently completed an acquisition project in West Texas with a peak
of 48,000 channels. This was the largest
project in the company's history, Jumper
reports, representing a 15-fold increase
in density, volume and data source points
acquired per day compared with typical
projects. "Combined with another survey
project in eastern New Mexico with
34,000 channels, the total field recorded
data was 1.4 petabytes, yielding about
157 terabytes of high-density, high-resolution 3-D seismic data," he reports.
And those surveys could be preludes
to an even higher-channel count project
in Dawson's near future, according to
Jumper, who notes that the company currently is shooting a multicomponent
project in the Midland Basin that requires
as many as 44,000 three-component units
or 132,000 channels.
"Shooting 500 square miles in West
Texas looks a lot different than 500 square
miles in the SCOOP/STACK play in
Oklahoma, where there are many smaller
land and mineral owners," Jumper states.
"Timing becomes an issue as to when
projects are ready from a permitting
standpoint."
Channel count is also on the rise in

Identifying topographical and geographical surface hazards is so critical to the success
of seismic data acquisition projects that Dawson Geophysical maintains a subsidiary,
EagleEye Geospatial, to address these issues through high-resolution aerial imaging.
Both manned and unmanned aircraft platforms capture detailed images to map roads,
fences, power lines, production sites, pipelines and other surface features before boots
ever hit the ground.

60 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

land surveys in Canada, where Dawson
Geophysical has been recording multicomponent data that capture compressional
as well as shear energy to image vertical
and horizontal seismic waves in three dimensions. "We are building views into
our 3-D surveys that lend themselves to
better imaging analysis," Jumper remarks.
"We design surveys to illuminate subsurface points in as many directions and distances from shot to receiver as possible."
Because Canadian structures tend to
be much shallower, the multicomponent
3-D surveys are generally not as big from
an areal coverage standpoint as in the
lower-48, but have much higher source
and channel densities. "It is not uncommon
to have 10-meter spacing, and channel
count tend to be driven more by density
in Canada than in the Permian Basin," he
explains. "The density allows us to illuminate shallow objectives very well."
Multicomponent Project
The company recently completed a
high-density 3-D multicomponent project
with 96,000 channels. More than 60 terabytes of output high-density, high-resolution data was generated from about 1.6
petabytes of field recorded data, according
to Jumper.
Areal extent and density are the two
key drivers of increasing channel counts,
Jumper says. "It is common to have surveys that are hundreds of square miles,
and we have had some that are in the
thousands of square miles, where it is
taking multiple crews to get the project
done in a timely manner," he details,
adding that both the density of energy
source placement and respective channels
within a given area are increasing.
Energy source placement and movement become important in efficiently
completing the surveys without source
interference. "Let's say we are 25,000
feet apart in the Permian Basin, or roughly
five miles in any direction from the energy
source," he posits. "We would need to
have basically 100 square miles of channels on the ground."
The energy source would illuminate
2.5 miles outward in all directions, or
about 25 square miles. That shot point
will move a few hundred feet or so and
shoot again. This continues over the entire
survey, moving a very large template at
very small increments. "Each point has
many illuminations, building redundancy
for statistical analysis," Jumper explains.
Of course, there are also various tech-
American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019

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