Nonlinear Seismic Imaging, Inc. has introduced a new concept of imaging important seismic attributes of the reservoir rocks that had not been addressed previously by anyone since 2001 when the company was formed.  This technology is proprietary and protected by multiple US Patents and Patents Pending.  In this technology we have identified three main seismic attributes which differentiate the reservoir rocks from all other subsurface formations that exhibit non-porous and non-permeable properties:

 

• When a seismic compressional wave propagates through a reservoir formation it generates new frequencies which may not be present in the original seismic signal.

• When there are more than one seismic signals propagating through the reservoir formation simultaneously, the sum and difference frequencies of the two primary waves are created, and that is a unique property of the reservoir formation.

• During the propagation of the compressional wave through the reservoir formation which is permeable and fluid-saturated, another seismic wave is created which is identified as the Slow Wave or Drag Wave™.  The Slow Wave travels at a lower velocity than the velocity of the compressional wave in the mineral frame of the rock, or the velocity of the compressional wave in the fluid that saturates that reservoir formation.  This phenomenon creates a very low frequency wave that will only be present in the reservoir formation and not in any other subsurface rock.

 

Nonlinear Seismic Imaging technology uses these three main characteristics to directly map the presence of hydrocarbons in the subsurface formations.  To successfully achieve the desired results, data acquisition has to be specifically designed so that these seismic attributes are created and preserved for further analysis and interpretation after the seismic data have been processed.  Without the proper data acquisition, these attributes cannot be usefully extracted during the data processing, and we will not get the desired image to identify the presence of hydrocarbons.

 

The seismic images using newly generated frequencies created due to elastic nonlinear effects of the reservoir rocks provided unique information related to the reservoir properties at very little additional cost to the oil companies, and can be easily implemented using today's equipment.  Ultimately, our objective is to remove any subjectivity in seismic interpretation through the implementation of nonlinear seismic imaging in every operation, wherever petroleum production occurs, and to create a new standard for seismic imaging.