We demonstrate advances in 3D EM inversion-based subsurface imaging on a challenging target in a mature area of the Gulf of Mexico. These advances include the use of the anisotropic (v , h) cube as well as a data weight scheme which permits inversion of all azimuthal data in the 3D grid. Our inversion is based on a quasi-Newton optimization algorithm with approximate calculation of the Hessian matrix and a finite-difference time-domain forward modeler. Its capability to resolve small targets of lowresistivity pay in complex geology is confirmed by the case example presented here. A proven hydrocarbon find (¡ < 5 ¢ m versus background, 2 km x 2 km) is compared with well and seismic data. There is a significant improvement in resolution over previous inversions using isotropic 3Dinversion, however, due to the acquisition in deep water and lack of substantial anisotropy, the target was identified in both cases.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.