Managing the Volume and Maximising its Value - The Benefits of an Automated Seismic Data Management System

Abstract

Over the past 10 years there has been an exponential growth in the amount of seismic data being acquired, processed and interpreted within the Australian region. The data management techniques used to handle this growing volume however, continue to use technology from the 1970?s. Woodside identified this as a major stumbling block in its drive to remain a world class exploration company. The manual system in use was close to breaking point and it was concluded that an external automated data management system was needed. The system we have implemented is called SeisLIB and we hope to integrate it into a national on-line data repository. The major benefits of this system are that it reduces the overall management costs, improves work practices, greatly improves the quality of the archived data and helps to unlock its interpretative potential. SeisLIB is a comprehensive data management system where all navigation, poststack seismic data and seismic support data is stored online, while the prestack data is catalogued and stored offline. There is direct access from the workstation to SeisLIB via a fibre optic link. GIS maps can be built and data delivered directly to the workstation in a number of formats ready for loading. It is cost effective, flexible, quick and accurate.