SEISMIC SURVEYS

1.0 Introduction
Seismic exploration provides the engineer with knowledge of subsurface-
conditions, required for the safe and economical design of a project and
inform the engineer about the materials and conditions he will
encounter. Explorations are normally accomplished in phased sequence
as follows:
- reconnaissance investigations
- exploration for preliminary design
- explorations for detailed design
- explorations during construction

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Seismic surveys are carried out primarily by the oil and gas industry:

- to identify areas (called hydrocarbon traps) where oil and gas may have
accumulated

- determining a geologic formation’s potential for containing commercial

quantities of economically producible oil and/or gas

- identifying the best locations

to drill an exploratory well

- drilling exploration and

delineation wells to deter-
mine where hydrocarbons
are present and to
measure the area and
thickness of the oil/gas
reservoir.

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The rock formations may indicate whether oil/gas might be present. These
include former sedimentary basins, faults and ancient reefs that can act as
underground traps for crude oil/gas.

Seismic information helps companies decide whether:

- the available information is sufficient to justify drilling an exploratory well

- additional surveys are needed to better define the structures before

drilling

- the features present are not attractive enough to warrant further interest

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A seismic line looks like a cross section through the earth. Initially these are
used to map structural traps where hydrocarbons may accumulate – at its
simplest at high points of domes known as anticlines, but also places where
faults or erosion cut off a reservoir. Stratigraphic traps, where the geology
changes laterally from one rock type to another, such as a buried sandy
channel, sand bar, or carbonate reef can also be mapped using seismic
data.

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1.1 System Configuration

i) Acoustic signal processor and graphic recorder

ii) Sound source

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iii) a recording cable called ‘streamer’ which contains hydrophones

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iv) Energy source

The energy source required to drive a

seismic source must be able to convert
regular mains voltage into the high
voltage (3500 volt/1500 amperes)
necessary to energise the sound
source. It must be able to do this safely
and reliably, and be sited in a convenient
location.

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1.11 Signal Processor and Graphic Recorder
- The recorder is the visual interface for any seismic system.
- The recorder also include a control panel to allow the operator to select
optimum repetition rate of the energy source.
- Gain controls are used to vary the intensity of the traced record
- By programming appropriate triggering and gating sequences, most of
the undesirable background noise may be eliminated

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1.12 Hydrophones
Hydrophone is the standard receiver in marine seismic and responds to
variations in pressure. It exist of a piezoelectric ceramic disc. A pressure
wave effectively bends the piezoelectric disc, thus generating a voltage
(sea picture). This voltage is proportional to the variation of the pressure.

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1.13 Streamer
Streamer digunakan untuk meletakkan hydrophones bagi merekod tenaga
seismik yang dibalikkan dari lapisan dibawah dasar laut.

Biasanya didalam streamer diletak minyak khas bagi mengapungkan

streamer secara semula jadi dan membuang udara didalamnya yang
memberi kesan kepada sensitivi hidrophone.
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Steramer akan merekod tenaga seismik yang dibalikkan menggunakan
hidrophone. Tenaga seismik akan ditukar kepada tenaga elektrik dan
disalurkan melalui streamer kepada sistem perekod di kapal.

Streamer terdiri dari beberapa komponen penting:

- hydrophones, usually spaced 1 m apart

- electronic modules, which digitize and transmit the seismic data
- stress members, steel or kevlar, that provide the physical strength,
allowing the streamer to be towed in the roughest of weather
- an electrical transmission system, for power to the streamer electronic
modules, and peripheral devices, and for data telemetry
- the skin of the streamer in which all the above are housed

The streamer is divided into sections, each 50-100 m in length, to allow

modular replacement of damaged components. Each section is terminated
with a connector unit.

Each section is filled with special fluid (synthetic material), which has a
specific gravity of less than 1, to make the overall streamer neutrally
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buoyant.
Recent advances have led to a new generation of streamers, moving away
from the fluid filled to a solid cable, constructed of extruded foam. They are
more robust and resistant to damage, don not leak oil, and are less sensitive
to weather and wave noise.

Streamer tow depths vary from 4-5 m for shallow and in good weather areas,
to 8-10 m for deeper penetration in more open waters.

In addition to the internal components, there are 3 types of external device,

which are attached to the streamer:

- depth control units or birds

- magnetic compasses
- acoustic positioning units

bird
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The wings on the birds are electronically controlled to control the depth in
response to the hydrostatic pressure measured by a pressure transducer
inside each bird. The birds are normally spaced approximately 300 m
apart.

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For 3D seismic, the position of the streamer must be precisely located. The
shape of the streamer is determined using compasses, which measure the
deviation of the streamer. A computer algorithm is used to derive the true
position from these individual compass measurements, which are located
roughly every 300 m.

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An acoustic ranging units are also used to provide additional position
information. These units are attached to the hull of the vessel, the source
floats, the streamers themselves and the tailbuoys.

A taibuoy is connected to each streamer to provide hazard warning of the

submerged towed streamer and positioning infromation. The tailbuoy is used
to house DGPS receivers that are used in the positioning solution for the
hydrophone groups in the streamers.

Tailbuoy

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Kedudukan streamer sepertimana perancangan pengukuran juga boleh
dikawal mengguna alat yang bernama ‘Fin’.

Jika berlaku perubahan kedalaman, sudut ‘fin’ akan diubah untuk

menetapkan kembali ke kedalaman asal.

Fin diletak pada sela 400-800 m. Setiap fin dikawal berasingan bagi
menggerak streamer ke atas, ke bawah, ke kiri dan ke kanan.

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1.2 Punca Tenaga/Gelombang Seismic
Punca tenaga seismik terawal adalah bahan letupan, antaranya
termasuklah dinamit dan gas peletup (gas exploder). Pada masa
sekarang teknologi ini telah diganti dengan non-exsplosive technology.

- echo sounder
- pinger
- boomers
- sparker
- air gun

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Frekuensi tenaga seismik yang digunakan memainkan peranan penting
dalam aplikasi seismik. Frekuensi rendah dapat menembusi sedimen
dengan lebih dalam dan sebaliknya. Frekuensi melebihi 40 kHz
menyebabkan keseluruhan tenaga akustik akan dibalikkan oleh dasar.
Jarak pulse yang pendek pula akan memberikan resolusi yang lebih baik.

Walau bagaimana pun, frekuensi yang rendah akan menghasilkan jarak

pulse yang panjang. Oleh yang demikian nilai frekuensi dan panjang pulse
tidak selari, menyebabkan kompromasi mestilah diambil bagi mendapatkan
keputusan terbaik. Jadual di bawah menunjukkan panjang pulse dan kadar
ulangan pulse bagi jenis-jenis sistem seismik di atas

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Penggunaan tenaga yang tinggi juga menimbulkan masaalah dimana lebih
banyak balikan akan berlaku dalam lapisan kolum air. Ini akan
menyebabkan data cerapan tidak begitu jelas. Masaalah lain berkaitan
dengan kuasa tenaga ialah kadar ulangan pulse.

Bagi menyelesaikan isu-isu yang dibincangkan di atas, terdapat berbagai

jenis sistem seismik dipasaran yang dapat digunakan.

a. Sparkers
Merupakan sparker yang menggunakan tenaga tinggi bagi menghasilkan
tenaga bunyi berfrekuensi rendah (25-2000 Hz). Tenaga bunyi dipancarkan
dari elektrod yang disediakan. Tenaga elektrik yang dipancarkan biasanya
dalam kadar yang rendah. Penembusan dalam julat 200 m hingga 1000 m.

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Sparker melepaskan “steam bubble” dengan menyalurkan elektrik ke
electrode yang dikelilingi oleh ‘conducting fluid’ iaitu air laut yang masin. Ini
akan menghasilkan getaran tekanan dalam air.

Sparker memerlukan punca tenaga elektrik yang dapat menukarkan

voltage biasa (contoh 24 volts) kepada voltage yang tinggi (3500
volts/1500 amperes) yang diperlukan untuk energise sparker

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b. Boomer
Tenaga elektrik yang hantar kepada coil yang dilekatkan kepada plate
secara magnetik untuk menghasilkan tenaga akustik. Tenaga elektrik yang
diterima oleh coil akan menghasilkan arus elektrik yang bertindak dalam
arah keluar. Ini menyebabkan getaran pada plate yang menghasilkan tenaga
bunyi. Boomer menghasilkan ‘sharp pulse’ pada frekuensi 500Hz hingga 10
kHz.

Punca tenaga elektrik

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c. Pinger
Pinger menggunakan transducer piezoelectric untuk menghasilkan tenaga
akustik pada frekuensi sehingga 12 kHz. Kedalaman penembusan
bergantung kepada jenis sedimen dimana dasar berpasir mempunyai julat
penembusan dari 0 hingga 3 meter dan sehingga 30 meter bagi jenis selut.

d. Air Gun
Kaedah ini menggunakan
tenaga bunyi bertenaga tinggi
tetapi berfrekuensi rendah
yang dihasilkan melalui
perlepasan udara bertekanan
tinggi didalam chamber
kedalam air. Tenaga bunyi
dilepaskan dengan sela 10-15
saat pada kedalaman 4-8 m.
Frekuensi diantara 10-120 Hz.

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Bagi exsplorasi minyak dan gas, punca tenaga seismic adalah dalam
bentuk array bagi meningkatkan lagi resolusi imej. Array mengandungi
beberapa air gun yang memancar tenaga seismic serentak pada sela
tertentu.

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An airgun is a hollow metal cylinder that generates pulses of sound
by releasing bursts of highly pressurized air into the water. In effect, an
airgun is like an underwater “pop-gun”.

Airguns are usually combined into an array, and fired in unison to make a
louder pulse that penetrates deeper into the seabed. Airgun noise is
broadband, and is made up of low frequencies, from about 10 Hz to 1000
3000 Hz.

Airguns are designed to emit low frequency pulses, because only very low
frequency sounds can penetrate deep into the earth.

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Antara kemudahan lain yang penting bagi airgun adalah compressor room
yang mengandungi compressor engine dan compressor. Compressor
berupaya untuk recharging airguns dengan sela yang kerap dan
berterusan.

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1.3 Principle of Seismic Survey
Seismic wave are used to give a picture of deep rock structures.

The seismic wave travels through the water and strikes the seafloor.
Some of the energy of the wave is reflected back to the hydrophones.

The rest of the wave carries on until it reaches another rock layer. The
time taken for the waves to travel from the source to the hydrophones is
used to calculate the distance
traveled - hence the thickness
of the rock layers.

The strength of the reflected wave

gives information about the density
of the reflecting rock.

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Each time the seismic pulse meets a change in rock properties, for
example from a shale to a sand layer, part of the pulse will be reflected
back to the surface. This is called an event. By measuring precisely the
difference in arrival time of a given event from the nearer and further
hydrophone groups, the velocity of the rock material can be measured. The
seismic measurements are made in time, so if the velocity and time are
known, geophysicists can workout the depth of the event.

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In marine seismic surveys, reflected sound waves, called signals, are
combined and interpreted electronically or reproduced on graphic paper
recorders. This data gives information on the depth, position and shape of
underground geological formations that may contain crude oil or natural gas.

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Signal Processing
The sound sources release seismic waves every 10-15 seconds . The signals are
short, sharp pulses with most of the energy at 10-1000 Hz. The pressure waves travel
to the ocean floor and subsurface layers. They are reflected back to the surface and
recorded by the hydrophones. Different surfaces reflect the waves differently. These
differences are recorded and transmitted to the vessel. The structure of the seabed
and subsurface is then determined by analyzing the reflected signal.

seismic pulse
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To reach the desired depths, seismic surveys use high energy, low
frequency sound that can penetrate more than 6000 m below the sea
floor. The survey results (rock formations/geological structures) do not
show definitely whether oil/gas is present, but indicate where they are
likely to be found and can help narrow the search area.

How Are The Seismic Data Collected?

As the vessel moves along the line, computers control the simultaneous
discharge of seismic waves from the sound sources, usually every 10
seconds.

The waves travel down through the rock formations. When they encounter
a boundary between diff. formations, some sound waves are reflected
back to high-capacity computers, check and store the data collected.

The collected data go through several processing steps to improve the

quality of the signals and filter out background noise. Geophysicists then
interpret the information to develop a detailed picture of the structures and
rock formations.
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Sela garis pengukuran seismic bergantung kepada tujuan pengukuran, bagi
tujuan penyelidikan, sela mungkin beberapa km, kawasan minyak, sela
lebih rapat, dan 3D seismic melibat kawasan kecil dengan beberapa
hidropon array pada sela beberapa puluh meter.

Sela tembakan bunyi bergantung kepada kedalaman, kawasan dalam

memerlukan masa balikan yang lebih lama, menjadikan sela tembakan lebih
panjang, 9-20 saat, kadangkala 30-60 saat dengan halaju bot 4-5 knots.
Kawasan cetek, bot bergerak lebih laju (sehingga 10 knot) kerana masa
balikan tenaga lebih cepat, membolehkan sela tembakan lebih singkat.

Bagi seismic cetek dengan kualiti yang baik, sistem seismic menggunakan
punca bunyi yang kecil saiznya dengan frekuensi tinggi dan streamer yang
pendek. Sparker dan air gun seringkali digunakan.

Bagi imej yang jauh dibawah dasar, beberapa airgun yang besar digunakan
bersama streamer yang panjang. Sparker tidak beberapa sesuai kerana
masaalah ‘low power’, air gun sahaja yang sering digunakan.

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1.4 Jenis Ukur Seismik
Boleh diklasifikasikan kepada 2 iaitu

i) ukur seismic 2D
ii) ukur seismic 3D

i) Ukur Seismik 2D

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When exploring a new area where little is known of the subsurface geology,
a 2D survey is usually performed. This consists of survey lines spaced one,
two, five or more kilometres apart.

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- Cuma satu streamer sahaja digunakan dan melibatkan kawasan liputan
yang luas

- data tegak dan mendatar sahaja (2D) diperolehi iaitu hanya

menggambarkan keratan rentas

- kos yang lebih rendah berbanding ukur seismik 3D

- seismik 2D memberi imej yang kasar (coarse)sahaja untuk meramal

kawasan yang mungkin ujud minyak/gas.

- kapal yang digunakan lebih kecil dengan streamer panjang 8-12 km

digunakan

- sela garis pengukuran lebih jauh berbanding 3D seismik.

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ii) Ukur seismic 3D
3D teknik bukan sahaja menggambarkan struktur bawah tanah, tetapi
dapat memberi maklumat mengenai cecair yang berada didalamnya.
cerapan berulangkali pada masa berbeza dapat mengesan perubahan
cecair, contohnya kepada minyak, gas, air, pergerakan cecair dan
tekanan.

Oleh itu imej berbeza masa

(3D/4D) boleh diguna
mengesan perubahan cecair,
terutama telaga minyak,
berguna bagi menentukan
isipadu, masa yang di perlukan
bagi mengambil hasil minyak,
gas dan lain-lain langkah
keselamatan.

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Pengukuran seismik 3D
diperkenalkan dalam
tahun 1993. Biasanya
sumber tenaga seismik
berbentuk ‘multiple
arrays’ dan juga
juga multiple hydrophone
streamer dengan
panjang beberapa
kilometer bagi
membentuk lebar liputan
sehingga 1 km. Ukur 3D
biasanya dijalankan bagi
penentuan kawasan
minyak atau gas.

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- merangkumi kawasan yang kecil, biasanya didalam kawasan seismic 2D
yang telah dijalankan
- intrepretasi data yang lebih baik dengan data cerapan dikeseluruhan
kawasan pengukuran
- 3D seismic mengguna banyak streamer yang ditarik selari antara satu
sama lain.
- data yang diperolehi adalah dalam bentuk 3 dimensi
- kos pengukuran adalah lebih mahal berbanding 2D. Walau pun begitu
dapat mengurangkan resiko kegagalan terhadap projek yang dirancangkan

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Punca tenaga terdiri daripada beberapa array dengan 6-9 airgun setiap
array. Lebih dari satu kapal mungkin terlibat bagi menghasilkan tenaga
seismic dalam bentuk array tersebut. Array biasanya berada dalam
keadaan selari antara satu sama lain pada jarak 50-200 m dibelakang
kapal.

Dibelakang punca tenaga seismik adalah beberapa streamer (4-12 unit)

pada jarak 100-200 m dari punca tenaga. Setiap streamer panjangnya 3-8
km tersebar dalam kawasan 400-900 m.

Beberapa kapal punca tenaga (compressors) mungkin diperlukan jika 1

kapal tidak berupaya untuk recharging airgun arrays dalam masa yang
diperlukan untuk sela letupan pengukuran. Kapal akan bergerak beriringan
dan menghasilkan letupan secara selang-seli (sela 10-15 saat).

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Pengukuran 3D dilakukan dalam
bentuk ‘racetrack’, supaya garisan
bersebelahan diukur dalam arah
yang sama dan mengurangkan
masa untuk berpusing kepada
garisan jika bersebelahan, oleh itu
kerja lebih efisien.

Ukur 3D memerlukan komputer

berkuasa tinggi untuk memproses
isipadu data yang besar.

3D seismik semakin popular dan

digunakan dalam hampir
keseluruhan exsplorasi
mintak/gas, dari peringkat awal,
mengenalpasti tempat
penggerudian hinggalah
mengawasi isipadu minyak dari
masa kesemasa. 49
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1.5 Seismic Image Quality
There are a number of factors that affect the success of a seismic survey.
These may be grouped into 3 classes

i) external
ii) vessel
iii) instrument limitations

i) External Limitations
These are those that cannot be controlled. The major is weather: rough seas
not only create discomfort and difficult conditions aboard ship, but cause an
increase in background noise created by breaking waves. This may reduce
the quality of the records.

ii) Vessel Limitations

These can be generally overcome by evaluating the survey requirements
and by throughly checking the vessel’s capabilities before the survey. In
some cases, there may be electrical or mechanical interference between
the ship’s equipment and seismic instruments.
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iii) Instrument Limitations
These may vary with individual systems, but in general the following
factors are inherent in all seismic devices:

- the seismic records show layer thickness as a function of time, thus the
true thickness may only be determined if the speed of sound is known.
Accurate velocity data are seldom available, therefore layer thickness
must be considered approximate

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