Challenges of the Seismic Image Resolution for Gas Exploration in the East Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

Some discoveries in the East Mediterranean have been made in recent years, and production has begun. In 2015, the most promising exploration was the Zohr field off-shore Egypt. Many 2D/3D marine seismic acquisition surveys were conducted using improved technology to obtain a higher resolution image of the subsurface Mediterranean. Optimal acquisition and processing parameterization are required to obtain higher resolution subsurface images. The work includes a summary of the most interesting basins in the East Mediterranean in terms of geology and structure, as well as the challenges of seismic exploration and a workflow to eliminate one of the most prevalent phenomena in marine seismic acquisition which known by bubbles effect. The bubble energy causes the appearance of low-frequency periodic events following all refractors, resulting in poor seismic image resolution. The application of wavelet-dependent De-signature workflow will be discussed in this work, over the study area from offshore Egypt, which is characterised by a complex water bottom. The proposed workflow shows a good and stable result in attenuating the bubble energy. It is now possible to completely remove the bubble effect from data using robust and consistent acquisition parameters, in addition to the application of the presented optimum proposed workflow.