Mitigation of the 3D Cross-line Acquisition Footprint Using Separated Wavefield Imaging of Dual-sensor Streamer Seismic Data

Lundin Malaysia BV completed the first-ever application of separated wavefield PSDM imaging to 3D dual-sensor streamer seismic data as a test to improve shallow geological interpretation. The methodology exploits the illumination corresponding to surface multiple energy, and thus exploits what has historically been treated by the seismic industry as unwanted noise. Whereas a strong cross-line acquisition footprint affected the very shallow 3D data using conventional processing and imaging, the new results yield spectacular continuous high resolution seismic images, even up to and including the water bottom. One implication of these results is that very wide-tow survey efficiency can be achieved without compromising shallow data quality if dual-sensor streamer acquisition and processing is used, even in very shallow water areas such as that discussed here. The imaging methodology can account for all degrees of lateral variability in the velocity model, full anisotropy can be accounted for, and angle gathers can be created to assist with velocity model building.