Development of Single-Well Seismic Imaging Technology

Single well seismic imaging (SWSI) has been identified in the petroleum industry as an exciting new technology with significant economic potential, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico. Deploying a seismic energy source and receiver string in a single well will allow imaging with higher resolution than can now be achieved with 3D surface seismic or the crosswell seismic techniques as well as providing the economics of single well (as opposed to crosswell) surveys. In a salt basin environment, such images would guide targeted, low-risk drilling for oil and gas trapped against salt dome flanks, overhangs, and fault surfaces (see above example of the Choctaw salt dome). The technology would also yield valuable data in subsalt environment where surface data are often uninterpretable. In this project, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory along with two other national laboratories and the industry (consisting of members of the salt imaging consortium) have pooled their resources in a cooperative venture to develop the SWSI technology. An important objective of this project is to leverage DOE and industry resources in the expeditious development of this useful tool that will address areas of research most beneficial to the industry as a whole.

Data and Resources

Field Value
Citation "\"NULL\""
Is NETL associated "\"Yes\""
NETL Point of Contact "\"Roy Long\""
NETL Point of Contact's Email "\"Roy.long@netl.doe.gov\""
NETL program or project "\"KMD\""
Publication Date "\"9/1/2001\""
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • Global Provider
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • edx
  • energy
  • energy-data-exchange
  • geo
  • geoss
  • global
  • kmd
isopen True
license_id other-open
license_title Other (Open)
metadata_created 2025-11-25T22:28:14.754515
metadata_modified 2025-11-25T22:28:14.754520
notes Single well seismic imaging (SWSI) has been identified in the petroleum industry as an exciting new technology with significant economic potential, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico. Deploying a seismic energy source and receiver string in a single well will allow imaging with higher resolution than can now be achieved with 3D surface seismic or the crosswell seismic techniques as well as providing the economics of single well (as opposed to crosswell) surveys. In a salt basin environment, such images would guide targeted, low-risk drilling for oil and gas trapped against salt dome flanks, overhangs, and fault surfaces (see above example of the Choctaw salt dome). The technology would also yield valuable data in subsalt environment where surface data are often uninterpretable. In this project, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory along with two other national laboratories and the industry (consisting of members of the salt imaging consortium) have pooled their resources in a cooperative venture to develop the SWSI technology. An important objective of this project is to leverage DOE and industry resources in the expeditious development of this useful tool that will address areas of research most beneficial to the industry as a whole.
num_resources 1
num_tags 10
title Development of Single-Well Seismic Imaging Technology