Improved imaging in Santos Basin utilizing variable-depth streamer data

Abstract

Summary Pre-salt targets in Brazil’s Santos Basin have become the focus of much exploration in recent years, creating a need for higher resolution images over these complex structures. Variable-depth streamer acquisition is an emerging technology in the Santos Basin that can increase the usable bandwidth in both the low and high frequency ranges, gain stronger low frequency penetration, and reduce acquisition related noise. We examine the benefits of variable-depth streamer data for producing high-resolution pre-salt images and the potential for higher resolution velocity models in the Santos Basin. We utilize a real field data set to demonstrate that variable-depth acquisition, combined with advanced processing techniques, provides improvements to the pre-salt imaging in this region.