Processing of a novel deepwater, wide-azimuth node seismic survey

Abstract

In the fall of 2005, BP commissioned Fairfield Industries to conduct a large, wide-azimuth survey over Atlantis Field in deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of the survey was wide-azimuth, subsalt imaging using P-waves. The seafloor topography is complex with scoured furrows at the base of the escarpment. A shallow salt body covers a large part of the survey area and rafts the seafloor at the escarpment, leading to very strong velocity contrasts. The water depth in the area varies from approximately 1300 m above the Sigsbee escarpment to 2200 m below it.