Quantifying multiple suppression of stacking

Abstract

The motivation for this study was a 1989 request by Shell Oil Company's Pecten Syria Petroleum Company to evaluate several 3D-acquisition proposals in the light of suspected multiple interference. Even with proper 3D imaging, could the prospect be obscured by multiple interference evident in prior 2D seismic data? Seismic geophysicists need a quantitative way to quickly evaluate and compare seismic data sets with respect to multiple suppression. A new dimensionless-frequency response curve has been developed to quickly quantify the multiple suppression capabilities of stacking within a single CMP. When there are a large number of diverse CMPs within a 3D-acquisition, the mean-squared-amplitude of the dimensionless-frequency response curves can be used to quantify the average multiple suppression within an entire unit-cell of coverage. Quickly recognizing and quantifying multiple interference can be very cost effective. Merely, reducing the acquisition costs without quantifying known multiple interference in seismic data can lead to wasted man-hours, wasted money, and ultimately poor quality seismic interpretations. Potentially poor 3D-acquisition designs can be quickly and inexpensively eliminated by proper application of this new tool. The best alternatives can be selected without field-testing, computational overload, or display overload. More cost effective acquisition and processing can be chosen with respect to multiple suppression. In addition, some more robust rules-of-thumb were developed for 3D seismic acquisition and processing design.