Utsira OBN

Meeting Complex Geological Challenges

OBN is the ultimate imaging tool to help operators overcome complex geological imaging challenges. With full azimuth acquisition, complex geology can be illuminated in all directions, and structures and attribute variations can be properly understood. Greater than ten times higher fold significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratio, as well as the ability to distinguish between structure and attribute anomalies which the interpreter can believe in or not. Other advantages include ultra-long offsets, measurement of the full wavefield, and measurement of both P- and S-waves for better characterization of fluids in a reservoir.

Cost Efficiency

Despite the reduction in the cost of alternative seismic acquisition, OBN has prevailed and grown its presence in the proprietary acquisition domain during the last few years. This is because the recent closing of the price differential between streamers and OBN is opening up large multi-client OBN investment opportunities in areas with complex geology, a conglomerate of license holders, and acreage turnover.

TGS is positioning itself to take a lead on multi-client OBN adaption and grow this market over the next decade. OBN is defining a new baseline for quality subsurface imaging using full azimuth, ultra-long offsets, small bin size, and exponentially more measurements per area.

Artificial Intelligence-Derived Seismic Products

TGS is now able to deliver an entirely new suite of seismic derivative products to provide enhanced exploration insights through Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially in areas where Infrastructure lead exploration (ILX) is drawing increased focus from the E&P industry. With human training, ground truth well data anchoring, and blind testing, the combination of high-fidelity seismic with cutting-edge AI technology provides reassuringly accurate predictions.

Our ground-breaking project based on the TGS Utsira Ocean Bottom Node (OBN) dataset in the southwest of the Norwegian continental shelf is the first example of AI geological interpretation on a large-scale, densely sampled OBN exploration dataset covering over 1,500 square kilometers.

By applying cutting-edge Machine Learning (ML) to this large, full azimuth OBN seismic data volume in a relatively well-understood region of the NCS, TGS aims to provide clients with a unique, previously unseen insight into the prospectivity of this region. Derivative products will illuminate detailed structure, provide enhanced analysis and supply complex attributes at scales not hitherto achieved through OBN data.

In collaboration with Earth Science Analytics.