Gary Margrave

An Interview with Gary Margrave

…Please tell us about your educational background and your work experience? I have always been interested in the hard sciences and originally enrolled in physics at the University of Utah as an undergraduate. I completed both my B.Sc. and M.Sc. there in physics, studying general relativity for my masters. Then,…

The Effectiveness of Seismic Fracture Detection Techniques in Tight Reservoirs – examples from WCSB

Christian Abaco

…Unconventional gas resources, including tight sands and carbonates, coalbed methane, and gas shales, constitute some of the largest components of remaining natural gas resources in North America. The main challenge in producing gas from tight rocks is generally their low permeability however, these unconventional reservoirs can exhibit significant permeability variations…

A Convenient Truth: Radial Trace Filtering—Simple and Effective

David Henley

…Introduction Seismic processing sometimes has something of a “mystique” associated with it, that compels us to use only the most theoretically correct or sophisticated algorithms to accomplish specific tasks on our data sets. Because of this, we sometimes overlook or ignore methods which are not as intellectually satisfying, but which,…

A Question from the December (2008) luncheon…

Lee Hunt

…At the CSEG luncheon of December 15, 2008, Jon Downton and I delivered a talk in which we evaluated the effectiveness of an interpolation process applied prior to pre-stack imaging. The focus of this analysis was the ability of the interpolator to minimize migration noise caused be geometric irregularities on…

Why Did I Apply Pre-Stack Interpolation to a Tightly Shot Plains 3-D?

Lee Hunt; Pat McKenny and Dave Levesque; Glenn Hauer and Oliver Kuhn

…Summary A 3-D seismic survey was purchased over a channel sand development play that was known to be charged with gas, oil, and water. The 3-D seismic data was of very high quality, and it was initially felt that finding a structurally high location with indications of good reservoir quality…

Hard hats and mortarboards: The industry and university working together

Robert Stewart, Don Lawton, Gary Margrave, and Laurence Lines

…Abstract University and industry goals can complement each other. Thus, there is considerable advantage to a university-industry partnership, especially in applied geophysics. This article discusses a consortium model for the collaboration and provides an example – the CREWES Project at the University of Calgary. The mandate of the CREWES Project…

Presidential Column

…CSEG Bylaws and Past Presidents How do we link our bylaws and our past presidents together on a common theme? Let me start by outlining the important role played by the past presidents of the CSEG. We will then review some proposed changes to the bylaws. The link between the…

Executive Message

…One Long Day Living out of town had triggered an early morning on November 9th as I made my way to the Calgary airport. Today’s destination was the 2008 SEG conference. After a brief stop in Denver I was to head directly to Las Vegas. The brief stop took 2…

CAGC Column

…Readings are solely for the entertainment of customers. – Sign above a table used for crystal ball gazers, tea leaf and tarot card readers $147 oil? $40 oil – all in a 6-month period? Who would have predicted that? One thing about predictions – no one has to be accountable.…

Science Break: Hangovers

…‘Tis the season to be jolly…and hungover. Humans have been consuming alcohol and suffering the aftereffects since before the beginnings of recorded history (9,000 year old Chinese pottery has shown alcohol residues), yet curiously enough, we still don’t fully understand the underlying causes of a hangover. The best science can…

Tracing the Industry

…January 2009. It is hard to believe. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were all worrying about what the millennium after all the computers in the world crashed! As we all know, it was a big non-event. From everything I have read there is a lot of doom…

Grapevine

…Happy New Year! Did you make any resolutions? I’ve decided not to this year: tend to break all of them by the first week anyway. Continuing with highlighting groups or individuals that I see contributing to the community, I want to showcase this month the efforts of a group of…

Interpolation, PSTM, & AVO for Viking and Nisku Targets in West Central Alberta

L.Hunt, S.Reynolds, S.Hadley, M.Hadley, J.Downton, D. Trad, B.Durrani

…Summary West Central Alberta has a thick stratigraphic section (up to 5000m) with multiple exploration and development targets in conventional clastic, carbonate, tight sand, and shale reservoirs. Compressional and extensional structural features are common throughout this large region, particularly further west. The area has extensive 3D seismic coverage, but that…

Biondo Biondi

An Interview with Biondo Biondi

…Biondo, let us begin by asking you tell us something about your educational qualifications and your work experience. I got an Electrical Engineering degree in Milan at Politecnico di Milano, which is also my hometown, and then I came to Stanford University to get a Ph.D. in Geophysics. I got…

Reflections on Q

Laurence Lines, Fereidoon Vasheghani, and Sven Treitel

…Abstract Seismic reflections are generally caused by contrasts in acoustical impedance. However, in media where there is significant absorption of seismic energy, reflections can also be caused by contrasts in the seismic absorption coefficient (or inverse-Q values). This note derives the reflection coefficient for a normally incident acoustical wave and…

AVO Crossplotting Revisited: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Heath Pelletier

…The development of AVO crossplot analysis has been the subject of much discussion over the past decade and has provided interpreters with new tools for meeting exploration objectives. Papers by Ross (2000) and Simm et al. (2000) provide blueprints for performing AVO crossplot interpretation. These articles refer to the Castagna…

Petrophysical Models for the Seismic Velocity of Cracked Media

Zimin Zhang and Robert Stewart

…Abstract Two petrophysical models for cracked media are investigated in this paper: the Kuster-Toksöz (1974) model for randomly oriented cracks and Hudson’s (1981) model for aligned cracks. We consider the effects of crack shape, aspect ratio, and crack density using rock properties from several field locations: the Ross Lake heavy…

Strange but True Stories of Synthetic Seismograms

Paul Anderson and Rachel Newrick

…Introduction Synthetic seismograms are critical in understanding seismic data. We rely upon them for an array of tasks, from identifying events on seismic data to estimating the full waveform for inversion. That said, we often create and use synthetic seismograms without much thought given to the input log data or…

Presidential Column

…Make sure you vote this coming month. The election of new executive members (Vice President and Assistant Directors) closes January 15: you can vote by mail, fax, or online. Information is included in the December RECORDER and in an email sent to each member. If you have not received an…

Executive Message

…Let me begin by saying it has been a pleasure to serve the CSEG as the Director of Communications and a member of the CSEG Executive during 2008-2009. I want to thank the CSEG members for entrusting me with this position and previously with the Assistant Communication Director during 2007-2008.…