Great Challenges and Opportunities in Geophysics: the state of our technology, our business and the SEG

Craig Beasley

…The profession of Geophysics faces significant challenges today. No doubt, the ability of our technology to remotely image the subsurface has provided significant value to the oil and gas industry. The competitive business climate of the oil industry continues to pit geophysical technologies against other alternative means of increasing production…

The Challenges of Change in the Exploration Industry

David Bartesko and Laurice Block

…If there’s one thing that’s been constant in the geophysical industry for the past 10 years, it is, ironically, change. Adjusting to change is an ongoing challenge to industry. Over the past decade, companies and individuals have critically assessed the way exploration has been planned and conducted, and this has…

“Change is good donkey!”

Rod Garland

…For those who don’t have kids, the above is a line from the movie Shrek. It also epitomizes the reality of field seismic contracting services over the past few years. Sure, sometimes we have to be dragged into the future, kicking and screaming, as we are by nature, conservative or…

Seismic–Managing the Risk

Ken Lengyel

…Seismic data is recognized throughout the Oil and Gas industry as one of the tools available to industry that can have a significant positive effect on the F&D (Finding & Development) costs associated with developing a company’s reserve base. Unfortunately, within the Oil and Gas industry the inherent risk of…

Attributes in color: the early years

Nigel Anstey

…Every old-timer lives for the day when someone will ask about the good old days. I need to start back in the mists. Even the early pioneers in seismics saw that there must be more to the seismic waveform than travel time. After the important clarifications given by Norman Ricker,…

Seismic Attributes – some recollections

Roy Lindseth

…Early attributes Few geophysicists can recall the days when a seismic record meant an 8 inch wide, 4 foot long banner of paper carrying 24 seismic traces. Each trace of each seismic event was carefully picked and the time of the reflection inked by hand. Even at that early time…

Significant Discoveries Marked ‘04

…It may not have been a year for elephant discoveries, but in 2004 a number of important wildcats added to the world’s reserve inventory potentials. Here is a list of some of those significant finds along with the commentary are reported by the HIS Global E & P Reporting Service,…

Ensuring Effective Basic Safety Awareness Training for Field Personnel

Dave Berte

…In this age of increasing liability and requirements to ensure employee competency and safety in the workplace, employers are faced with the ever-increasing responsibility of providing effective training to employees, especially new employees, and those who undertake new or different duties. Where can employees go to get direction and assistance…

Paul Weimer

An Interview with Paul Weimer

…I just wanted to begin by having you speak a little about your educational background and your career which has been long and varied and tell us what you are doing now and kind of introduce yourself to our members? I have a BA from Pomona College in Claremont California.…

Executive Message

…“Communications” The South Asian tsunami must have caught most of you wondering why so many lives were lost even though there was ample time to warn the people. In fact, attempts were made to warn people in those countries long before the tsunami hit. Was it a lack of political…

CAGC Column

…The Canadian seismic industry produces approximately $2 billion per year in revenues. Of this, the data acquisition companies constitute between 20 and 25 % of the total so somewhere in the $500 million per year in revenues. This is probably about the truest number that can be used to determine…

Expert Answers

…Question Managers are usually rewarded (with good salaries) for the extra responsibility that they assume and the leadership and initiative that they display. Oil and Service companies need managers who are leaders. Apart from having high levels of energy and the drive to succeed in a leadership role, leaders are…

Seismic Gourmet

…Passion (Vietnam Fusion Cuisine) Ok so it’s a Wednesday night, you’ve worked later than expected and the thought of making dinner just isn’t doing it for you! Since you’re already downtown why not head to an oasis of tranquility in the core. Such a place is Passion, where Vietnamese food…

Tracing the Industry

…How I got into Geophysics... Melissa Burdan, Canadian Natural Resources. I once was a physics buff. I was in pure physics at the University of Western Ontario and happy with my choice. My first year summer plans were set to make some money for the following year but to also…

Grapevine

…Geo-X Systems Ltd. Launches Launch & Learns Geo-X invites you to attend their technical luncheon series that includes two new talks! There is no cost for the Lunch and Learns that run from 12:00 PM until 1:00 PM, and a light lunch is also provided. The following courses for 2005…

Limitations of Deterministic and Advantages of Stochastic Seismic Inversion

Ashley Francis

…Limitations of Deterministic Inversion Inversion techniques to estimate impedance from seismic have been available to geophysicists for over twenty years. Conventional methods are referred to as ”deterministic” and are based on the minimisation of an error term between the forward convolution of the reflectivity from an estimated impedance profile and…

Executive Message

…As I write this column, it has been less than two weeks since the horrific tragedy in South Asia. So as I was contemplating what I should write about, I began reflecting on how fortunate we are and how much we take for granted. Listening to news reports and seeing…

CAGC Column

…As I look back upon my columns I find some of the same topics popping back up from time to time. As we recently sat down to look at line widths again, one of my members said we did this 10 years ago, however the thresholds were wider. We see…

Expert Answers

…Question Seismic data processing is often characterized as ‘amplitude preserved’, ‘relative amplitude,’ true amplitude’ or ‘ controlled amplitude’ processing. Considering that the ultimate goal in processing is to yield amplitudes that are a measure of reflectivity in the subsurface, how are these terms different and in what context is each…

Seismic Gourmet

…Latin Corner (Cocina Latina Tradicional) Ok so it’s minus a billion for the second week in a row, the furnace is running non-stop and you feel like you will never be warm again! Ah yes another Canadian winter is upon us. So where do you go to warm up and…