CGG cuts time of OBN imaging at Mad Dog field

PARIS -- Subsurface Imaging, part of CGG’s Geoscience division, has delivered a step-change in subsalt image quality over Mad Dog field in the Green Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico. Through continued investment in imaging technology and supercomputing capacity, CGG was able to reduce project cycle time by almost half while delivering greatly improved subsalt images. Fast access to high-quality images was critical to BP and partners in modifying and optimizing the ongoing drilling program.

Ocean-bottom nodes (OBN) seismic data combined with full-waveform inversion (FWI), for velocity model derivation, provided this step-change improvement in imaging at subsalt Mad Dog field. Project cycle time was significantly reduced, when compared to projects where the velocity model was constructed using discrete interpretation methods. FWI provided a fast-track velocity model that facilitated a superior migration for depth imaging just weeks after delivery of the OBN data.