Omnifocal Seismic Denoising With Dip-Corrected Gather Stacking

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Seismic data collected during surveys for hydrocarbon reservoirs often contains noise, particularly ground-roll vibrations, which degrade the accuracy and resolution of seismic images, making it difficult to plan wellbore paths effectively.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that attenuate noise in seismic data by combining adjacent mid-point gathers after correcting them for geological dip, using spatial and applicate weighting functions to form a noise-attenuated central seismic gather, enhancing signal-to-noise ratios.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If seismic data is processed using conventional methods, then the processing speed is maintained, but the noise attenuation and image quality are insufficient

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveseismic image accuracyVSAvoidprocessing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary moveout correction and dip correction to seismic gathers before stacking. By pre-correcting the seismic data for moveout and geological dip using a dip model, the method prepares the data in advance to enable effective noise attenuation during stacking, thereby improving seismic image accuracy without excessively complicating the overall processing workflow

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent combines multiple corrected seismic gathers (central gather and neighboring gathers) through stacking to form a single noise-attenuated seismic image. By merging dip-corrected gathers from different spatial locations, the method enhances signal-to-noise ratio and improves image quality while maintaining manageable processing complexity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Reliability

If noise attenuation is applied to seismic data, then the signal-to-noise ratio is improved, but the processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesignal-to-noise ratioVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs moveout correction and dip correction in advance before the stacking operation. By pre-correcting seismic gathers for moveout and geological dip using an existing dip model, the method reduces the computational burden during the noise attenuation stacking phase, thereby improving signal-to-noise ratio while minimizing additional processing time

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses a pre-existing geological dip model to guide the correction process rather than creating a new dip model from scratch during noise attenuation. By copying and applying the existing dip model information to correct neighboring gathers, the method achieves effective noise attenuation without the time cost of generating a new dip model

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP4384855B1Method and system for seismic denoising using omnifocal reformation
Publication Date: 2025.10.01 SAUDI ARABIAN OIL CO
  • EP4384855B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4384855B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4384855B1 patent drawingFigure 3A~3B

AI summary

Methods and systems for determining an image of a subterranean region of interest (102) are disclosed. The method includes obtaining a seismic dataset and a geological dip (440) model for the subterranean region of interest (102) and determining a set of input seismic gathers from the seismic dataset. The method further includes determining a central seismic gather (432) and a set of neighboring seismic gathers in a vicinity of the central seismic gather (432) from the set of seismic gathers, determining a set of dip- corrected neighboring seismic gathers based, at least in part, on the set of neighboring seismic gathers and a geological dip (440) from the geological dip (440) model, and determining a noise-attenuated central seismic gather (604) by combining the dip- corrected neighboring seismic gathers and the central seismic gather (432). The method still further includes forming the image (704) of the subterranean region of interest (102) based, at least in part, on the noise-attenuated central seismic gather (604).