Gulf of Mexico High Point

Extended play coverage with ultralong offsets and high–end processing technologies

The High Point broadband 3D multiclient survey comprises high-fidelity broadband seismic data from over 281 OCS blocks in the Eastern and Central Gulf of Mexico region. As an extension of the Four Point broadband 3D survey, it covers the Miocene, Mesozoic, and Jurassic plays, including the prolific Norphlet play. Primary exploration targets in this area are at depths of 20,000 to 35,000 ft, above a complex and highly variable salt structure.

Surveyed basin areas

Viosca Knoll
Mississippi Canyon
Desoto Canyon
Destin Dome protraction areas

Exploration targets depths of 20,000 to 35,000 ft, above a complex and highly variable salt structure.

Optimize illumination of deeper targets

Combining ultralong offsets with high-end processing technologies like full waveform inversion (FWI) and anisotropic deghosted reverse time migration (DRTM), the High Point broadband 3D survey improves visualization of complex salt structures and the associated supersalt sediments. With integrated technology and geoscience expertise, this survey delivers improved imaging in and around challenging structures, providing

improvements on steeply dipping salt flanks
improved anisotropy and anisotropic velocity modeling
optimal imaging of deep Mesozoic targets.

The broader bandwidth data provides high-resolution imaging of important shallow structures such as small sedimentary traps and thin beds.

Acquisition highlights

The High Point broadband 3D multiclient survey was acquired using a sliding-notch broadband acquisition and imaging technique to address imaging challenges that are common to this play. The broader bandwidth acquisition provides the resolution optimization required for deeper targets.

For the High Point broadband 3D multiclient survey, the acquisition technique employed

a single receiver vessel equipped with a point-receiver marine seismic system with an independent source vessel
variable streamer depth, increasing from the near-offset to the farthest offset
ten 12-km steerable streamers.