Improved prospect evaluation and drilling results in the Dutch North Sea with diffraction imaging

Abstract

Abstract We present an integrated interpretation case study of pre-stack depth migration and diffraction imaging in two Dutch North Sea gas fields. Diffraction imaging, as the detector of discontinuities at very high resolution and unlimited by illumination constraints, is the ideal technique for mapping gas accumulations at fault cuts (DI as DHI). The diffraction image, being a migrated physical wavefield, has amplitude, frequency, phase, polarity and tuning properties which can all be used to enhance its interpretation value. We use the diffraction imaging response of elementary models to build up an edge diffraction calculus and thus model and predict responses from more complex structures. This confirms the details seen in the diffraction images and well data from the studied gas fields. Diffraction imaging allows for a significant refinement of the interpretation resulting in more accurate definition of drilling targets and lower uncertainty in resource volumes.