APPLICATION EFFECTS OF SWATH 3D GEOMETRY IN THE FOOTHILL REGIONS OF WESTERN CHINA

Wang, X.Y., He, Z.H., Li, Y., Zhang, G., Zhang, H., Chen, J., Li, M., Wang Y. and Yang, Z.C., 2019. Application effects of swath 3D geometry in the foothill regions of western China. Journal of Seismic Exploration, 28: 347-361. Abundant oil and gas resources have been discovered in last decade in the foothill regions of western China, which implies a great potential for oil and gas reservoir in these areas. However, the ‘double-complex’ seismo-geological features of complex near-surface and complex subsurface result in a low signal to noise ratio (SNR) of seismic data, restricting further breakthroughs in these areas. In practice, wide-line 2D and high-density 3D are widely employed techniques in the foothill regions of western China. It has been found that wide-line 2D geometry can improve the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of seismic data effectively, but the imaging accuracy is relatively lower than conventional 3D. “Two-wide One-high” is a technology that stands for wide azimuth, wide frequency bandwidth, highdensity 3D seismic exploration, which could record more complete field information, fewer alias and more low frequency signals. Featured by high-density seismic acquisition, “Two-wide One-high” has achieved significant improvements in data quality, and many cases have been carried out in different regions of China in last decade. High-density 3D geometry characterized by small bin size, high fold number and wide azimuthhas significantly improved the SNR and imaging quality of seismic data in these areas, which improve success rate of exploratory drilling. 0963-0651/19/$5.00 © 2019 Geophysical Press Ltd.