The changing economics of 3-D prestack seismic imaging in depth

摘要

Prestack depth migration has long been regarded as a specialty product, to be tried only in extreme situations of severe lateral velocity variations. Until recently, it was never even considered as a possibility for 3-D data because of the high cost, poor turnaround time, unclear methodology, and the unpredictability of the outcome. However, these economics are changing quickly and in dramatic fashion. Such questions as "When does it make economic sense to do 3-D prestack migration?" or "How can I tell to what degree the process will improve the data?" demand a new basis for evaluating cost versus benefit.