Independent pushes high-tech frontier through partnership
State-of-the-art geophysical technology, requiring access to the biggest and best computer systems in the world, is not beyond the reach of independent oil and gas producers. Working with partners from academia and the US government, Oryx Energy Co. This year completed a seismic procedure that tested the limits of one of the world`s larger computer systems. The procedure, 3D prestack depth migration (PSDM), is the best technique developed so far for imaging salt bodies and subsalt structures. Because it requires massive data processing capacity, PSDM is sometimes seen as an exclusive tool of major oil companies. But Oryx thought that only 3D PSDM could answer questions it had about a recent Garden Banks discovery in the Gulf of Mexico. So the company in 1992 began searching for an alliance through which to make use of then newly commercial 3D PSDM technology. In May 1994, the company signed a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) and Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque. The CRADA brought together Oryx`s modeling and programming expertise, a PSDM computer code developed by UTD, Sandia`s Intel Paragon massively parallel processing (MPP) computer, and people and expertise from all three groups. By the time the final migration was completed last May 21, Oryx had not only answered many of its geological questions but also tested a pioneering migration technique, become one of the first companies to apply 3D PSDM technology to output a full data volume, worked with its partners to solve several computing problems, and found a way to apply MPP technology without owning an MPP machine. This article describes the computing challenges to be met, the project, and PSDM results.
- OSTI ID:
- 131798
- Journal Information:
- Oil and Gas Journal, Vol. 93, Issue 47; Other Information: PBD: 20 Nov 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
99 MATHEMATICS
COMPUTERS
INFORMATION SCIENCE
MANAGEMENT
LAW
MISCELLANEOUS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
COMPUTER CALCULATIONS
DATA ANALYSIS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
COORDINATED RESEARCH PROGRAMS
US DOE
SALT DEPOSITS
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
SEISMIC DETECTION