Frontier Exploration using a Towed Streamer EM system - Barents Sea Examples

The measured Towed Streamer EM data from a survey in the Barents Sea, undertaken in the Norwegian sector are inverted as a series of unconstrained and seismically guided 2.5D inversions. The subsurface geology is complex and provides a good test area in terms of controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) surveying. Subsurface interpretation in such a complex geological setting is a challenge due to solution ambiguities while using a single geophysical method. The integration of seismic and CSEM data, where seismic provides a high-resolution structural image and CSEM estimates the resistivity, is a more powerful tool for subsurface interpretation than either technique alone. In this paper we present both unconstrained and seismically guided inversions and illustrate how data integration improves the subsurface interpretation. Such an integrated approach can be a powerful tool in a frontier exploration setting where CSEM and seismic data co-exist. We also show how dense in-line sampling of the electric field improves the sensitivity to changes in sub-surface resistivity.