The proprietary Q-reservoir technique gives much higher resolution, enabling a far closer look at the reservoir, and the platform also gives much better repeatability, according to a Schlumberger spokesperson. Q-Reservoir is the WesternGeco proprietary suite of seismic technologies with marine, land, and seabed applications.
WesternGeco performed the baseline Q-Reservoir survey for Statoil on the Norne field in 2001, and the new survey, scheduled to begin in June, will enable the industry's first "Q-on-Q" data comparison.
"4D monitoring is very important in evaluating the oil-water contacts in the different segments, and we needed data with high repeatability and high signal-to-noise ratios," said Statoil's petroleum technology manager on the Norne field, Ole Magnar Droenen.
"We chose WesternGeco's Q-Technology because of the repeatability provided by streamer steering and minimum azimuth variation between base and monitor surveys. The streamer steering also allowed us to pass closer to the Norne production vessel than we could with a conventional survey, and thus reduce the area of no coverage."
