Numerical and measured data from the 3D salt canopy physical modeling project

Abstract

Oil Co. SUMRIARYThe evolution of salt structures in the Gulf of Mexico have been shown to provide a mechanism for the trapping of significant hydrocarbon reserves. Most of these structures have complex geometries relative to the surrounding sedimentary layers. This aspect in addition to high velocities within the salt tend to scatter and defocus seismic energy and make imaging of subsalt lithology extremely difficult. To date. no direct comparison of the numerical and physical aspects of these models has been attempted. We present the results of fonvard modeling a numerical realization ofthe 3D salt canopy physical model with the French Petroleum Institute (IFP) acoustic finite difference algorithm used in the numerical subsalt tests.We compare the results h m the physical salt canopy model. the acoustic modeling of the physicalhumerical model and the original numerical SEGI'EAEG Salt Model. We will be testing the sensitivity of migration to the presence of converted shear waves and acquisition geometry.