Exxon Production Research Company

Dewey R Young, Ii

Richard E Duren

Richard C Swenson

A marine seismic cable network including cables towed parallel to the surface of the sea at at least two depths for providing time analysis of reflected seismic data to dimensionally clarify characteristics of reflecting surfaces.

Marine seismic receiving system employing multiple depth hydrostreamer

A firing system for marine seismic sources 14 grouped and fired in subarrays 18. Each source 14 is provided with a firing circuit 30 including an energy storage device, such as a storage capacitor 32, adapted to pass firing current through the source actuator 24 in response to receiving a low power trigger signal from a source control system 28 located on the ship 16 from which the seismic survey is conducted. The firing circuit 30 corresponding to each source 14 is situated proximate the source 14. An umbilical 20 extends between the control system 28 and each subarray 18. The umbilical 20 includes a trigger signal conductor corresponding to each source, a charging conductor to which the storage capacitors of each firing circuit 30 are connected in parallel and a ground conductor.

Seismic source firing control system

An endfire seismic array comprises one or more marine seismic cables having a plurality of acoustic-to-electrical hydrophone receivers spaced therealong, each being operatively connected in combination so that as a unit an endfire receiving beam pattern with respect to any frequency across the seismic band is formed by causing the signals from the individual hydrophone receivers to be additive for that frequency. A plurality of cables results in a more narrow beam than a single cable. A geologic or lithologic formation that is a dip change from the norm may be detected either as an extra strong increase or decrease in signal, depending on the mode of use.

Endfire seismic receiver and method of use

A hydrostreamer includes connectors for joining to depending housings enclosing geophone sensors. These sensors are coupled to the bottom of the sea via such housings by the housings being appropriately weighted and externally surface serrated. Thus, the geophones detect s-waves directly from the ground in single-mode conversion fashion while simultaneously, hydrophones in the hydrostreamers detect p-wave reflections in traditional fashion.

Marine shear-wave detection system using single mode reflection boundary

A detailed seismic survey is achieved when there is general knowledge of a formation with generally steep dip by first locating the central location point and then mapping radial shot lines and receiver lines therefrom. The shot lines need to extend across the dip and beyond. The receiver lines need to extend a normal distance as with conventional 3-D seismic surveys. Shots from the central location progressing outwardly will reflect first with equal incident and reflector paths, then with a short incident to long reflector path, and finally to where long incident and short reflector paths are achieved. The data collected radially to describe the formation is near one-tenth of that required for conventional 3-D surveys where the shot lines and the receiver lines are mapped in parallel survey lines.

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Houston, TX, United States of America

Dewey R Young, Ii