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QLD September Local Branch Meeting

Event Type

Event Date

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Event Location

Event Address

XXXX Brewery, Cinema (upstairs – behind the restaurant/bar) Corner of Black Street and Paten Street Milton

Event Start

5.30pm

Event End

10:00pm

Event Details

Speaker: Dr Nabeel Yassi

Talk Title: Current trends in onshore seismic data acquisition; a case study on cable-free nodal systems

Talk Overview:

Since the late 1970s, seismic surveys were conducted with cabled multi-channels acquisition systems. As the number of channels steadily grew, a fundamental restriction appeared with hundreds of kilometres of line cables dragged on the ground. Seismic surveys within rugged terrain, across rivers, steep cliffs, urban areas, and culturally and environmentally sensitive zones; were both challenging and expansive exercises.

 

Modern technology has made different cable-free solutions practical. Many successful 2D and 3D seismic data acquisition using cable-free autonomous nodal systems were attempted in the past few years; however, there remain a number of concerns with these systems.

 

  •   The first concern queries whether the units are working according to manufacturer specifications during the data acquisition window.
  •   The second is the limited or no real-time data quality control that inspires sceptics to use the term blind acquisition to nodal operations.
  •   The third is the traditional question of geophone array versus point receiver acquisition.

 

The talk elaborates on the benefits of the cable-free seismic surveys with specific examples of 2D and 3D exploration programs conducted in Australia in the past six years. Optimisation of field crew size, field crew resources, cost implications, and footprint to the environment, wildlife and domestic livestock will be discussed.

 

In addition an open forum discussion will focus on the data quality/data assurance and the processes implanted during data acquisition to maintain equivalent industry standards to cable recording. The talk highlights data analysis and test results of geophone array versus cable-free point receiver recording from the latest 3D seismic survey in Australia.

 

About the Speaker:

Nabeel Yassi graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in geology, 1974; MSc in geophysics, 1977; and PhD degree in Exploration Geophysics from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne – England, 1984. After receiving his PhD, Nabeel resumed academic duties to achieve the position of Associate Professor in Geophysics at Baghdad University. From the mid-90s he moved to seismic exploration and supervised onshore and Transition Zone / OBC seismic data acquisition and data processing for Oil and Gas exploration; with extensive track of successful seismic surveys in Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America.

 

Nabeel has complementary experiences in sedimentary basins analysis, structural-tectonics, and geological interpretations. This unique experience in geological / geophysical integrations has been systematically utilised to optimise 2D/3D seismic survey designs, enhanced seismic recording parameters, field seismic data processing and delivering the highest data quality for seismic surveys within the most challenging field conditions, sensitive areas and complex tectonic frameworks. Practices were further enriched through international exposure to different types of hydrocarbon systems.

 

During the last six years, Nabeel was the Chief Geophysicist at Geokinetics (Australasia) Pty Ltd. He was highly involved in the latest technologies of seismic surveys; including nodal, cable-free recording systems with a blend of conventional cable recording and different types of seismic sources. Participated in many 2D/3D seismic surveys delivering superior seismic data quality and peak field efficiency with minimum/no footprint to the environment. Recently he resumed the role of consultant geophysicist supporting the exploration industry to maintain the same high standards.