Page 88: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Apr/May 2014)

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Seismic advances spur

Gulf of Mexico shallow water success

Andre Broussard context with state-of-the-art reprocessing EPL employs experienced geologists and is unlocking new drilling opportunities. geophysicists who know how to correlate

Senior Vice President, Geosciences

The datasets reprocessed with these their knowledge of the subsurface rock

EPL Oil & Gas new technologies have allowed some morphology and marry that with the he past fve years have demon- E&P companies, like EPL Oil & Gas, a newly reprocessed data to drill down on strated that there is still plenty shallow water operator in the Gulf of a more precise location to land the well.

T of life left on the Gulf of Mexico Mexico, to average an 80-90% commer- This has reduced the risk profle signif- shelf, with bypassed oil-rich assets in cial success rate, with this percentage of cantly, and allowed EPL to consistently plentiful supply. Exploration and produc- wells delivering the desired production achieve double-digit rates of return over tion operators are now focused squarely goals to meet economic objectives. the past four years. on the shelf during this time period, and This rate was unheard of two decades Further, the algorithm advancements enjoyed a success rate that has advanced ago in the Gulf, with many operators operators are capitalizing on come from a in lockstep with the latest algorithm achieving success only 65-75% of the collaborative approach between technical advancements and vastly improved pro- time. The higher rates are indicative of people in the feld and the reprocess- cessing speeds. the ability to take much of the mechani- ing software providers. This close and

Such advances include new inversion cal guesswork out of the equation and continuing work relationship is critical to methods and bandwidth extensions to drill wells in the right spot, by listening tie the seismic to the geology, and ensure improve time to depth and gain a greater closely to what the reprocessed seismic that the data set leads to a successful understanding of the depositional envi- says about reservoirs. well. ronment of the shallow sections of the Now, shelf operators are poised to Because this success is a constantly reservoir. New high-frequency algorithms embark on their next phase of shelf moving target, collaborations such as this have allowed operators to see thinner exploration, by embracing new, highly will continue, with the aim of consis- sands than they were able to previously, sophisticated 3D seismic acquisition tently improving data resolution with and perform reconnaissance work within and reprocessing whose time has come. each new algorithm iteration. the interior pieces of their felds, using Using these advances, the industry will Within the next two to fve years, it is the existing logs as a starting point. develop a clearer view and understand- predicted that much of the GOM shelf

As processing speeds have increased ing of the size and location of previously will be reshot using new 3D technology, exponentially over the past decade, the unexplored hydrocarbon-bearing sands, and new algorithms will bring an explo- ability to run more complex algorithms much deeper into the formation. New sion of new ideas and further derisking. has quickly changed the way infeld reprocessing techniques—many of which Shallow water operators are not content development is occurring. Additionally, have only been commercially available with waiting for these advancements, but increased processing speed is driving the within the last fve years—are particu- intend to keep working with the seismic unit cost of seismic processing down sig- larly critical in improving the clarity and community to develop newer processing nifcantly. This is allowing operators to resolution of existing data sets that were techniques to improve their understand- reprocess seismic data on a scale and at acquired many years ago. ing of the subsurface, both close to the a cost that was unthinkable a short time Technical expertise is just as important surface and in deeper recesses of the ago. Placing core assets in a regional as the technology itself. For example, reservoir.

A typical FairfeldNodal deployment

Andre Broussard is

Senior Vice

President,

Geosciences, at

Houston-based EPL

Oil & Gas. He has over 28 years of experience in domestic exploration and development as a geologist and geophysicist, focused on the Gulf of Mexico shelf. He began his career in 1984 at CNG Producing Co.

Broussard earned a BS in Geology from .

the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

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