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Broadband experts report- else out of business, particularly since edly now concede that Schlumberger has an aggressive pat- most of the bases for so- ent protection department to prevent called broadband can be copying. covered by the less-elab- A year later, IsoMetrix has yet to orate solutions advocated prove commercially successful amid by Dolphin, Polarcus, and rumors of streamer problems. Some others. have mischievously connected the

Geology & Geophysics

Dolphin rather cheekily recent abrupt replacement of the com- takes a shot at the big guns pany CEO with the technology’s muted when it refers to its SHarp appearance.

broadband combination of In London, CGG’s equipment manu- acquisition and process- facturing subsidiary, Sercel, fred what ing as ”feet ready, no new can only be described as a shot across equipment required.” In WesternGeco’s bow when it announced common with the Polarcus MS Sentinel. Lo and behold, in addi-

RightBAND technique, tion to the high-quality pressure

SHarp is predicated on measurement provided by its hydro- towing streamers deeply phone sensor, the system features two to record the low frequen- additional acceleration components, cies, plus some fancy pro- based on its Sentinel solid streamer cessing to do deghosting, technology. Sercel claims directional etc. Polarcus emphasizes measurements for both cross-line and an intelligent application vertical wave fronts that deliver multi- of geophysical principles, sensor data sets for enhanced broad- involving each component band imaging. Sercel stated it would of the seismic workfow. be 2014 before the MS Sentinel will

It customizes the source be available, but it appears as though arrays for each project to WesternGeco won’t have this particular generate the necessary differentiator all to itself.

Sercel’s MS Sentinel challenges broadband signals. Solid Doubtless, PGS and other contractors

Sercel Sentinel streamers, will be considering their response to

WesternGeco’s Isometrix.

deep-towed and recording the cross-line measurement possibil- in the quiet environment created as a Clari-Fi Totus addresses the source ity, which will clearly provide more result, enable the company to deliver and receiver ghosts, while Clari-Fi information about the subsurface. This data that it suggests have the lowest Amplio broadens the spectrum to a always assumes that acquisition bugs possible noise content across the entire desired shape, up to the frst ghost and processing issues of the much frequency spectrum. Sercel claims notch frequency. The company says larger data sets can be sorted out. its broadband results are as good or the solution is fexible enough to be The overall message is clear: no one better than those achieved by the Big used on a variety of marine data types is going to get a jump on the opposi-

Three. For its data processing train, (2D, 3D, narrow, and wide azimuth), tion for long. That being said, con-

Polarcus uses the ION Geophysical both new and legacy data, and on tractors begin to look very much like subsidiary GXT, which, with WiBand either pre-stack or post-stack data sets. operators of ”boats for rent” with not offers an answer to the source and Soon, there will be plenty of other much to differentiate them, i.e., the receiver notches in the frequency companies providing broadband- commodity scenario that they dread. spectrum resulting from the free sur- enabling products. The clear implica- With a buoyant market and negligible face refections (ghosts) that limit data tion is that marine seismic companies slack in the global vessel capacity resolution in the marine environment. will be searching for some further to meet demand, marine contractors

Signifcantly, it is applicable to con- technology advance that can distance were able to leave London without too ventional ”fat” (cf. sloping) streamer themselves from their competitors. A much to worry about. But a clutch of data acquisition confgurations, which year ago, at the EAGE Annual Meeting new high streamer-count vessels are make up the vast majority of legacy in Vienna, WesternGeco launched due out in 2014-15. This could affect data and the majority of new data. IsoMetrix as the ultimate seismic the supply-demand equation, unless

As a high-profle acquirer of data acquisition technology, able to record there are some vessel retirements. Also through its multi-client projects, TGS data measuring wavefeld pressure companies can’t count on oil compa- has introduced its Clari-Fi, three- and gradient vertically and cross-line. nies’ upstream spending continuing step ,processing solution that allows If it works, that would be impressive, at its current rate. Don’t be surprised, broadband data to be generated from was the word. Geophysicists were therefore, if a survey price war breaks conventionally acquired seismic data. talking as if it would put everyone out in the not too distant future.

OE | July 2013 oedigital.com 26 oe0713_G_G_notebook.indd 26 6/24/13 1:50 AM