January 20, 2023
Seismic processing professionals need significant computing resources with powerful compute nodes and high-performance file systems to handle large volumes of seismic data, perform complex geophysical calculations and deliver seismic data on demand. Digitalization of the oil and gas industry is changing seismic processing from being an isolated workflow performed in some of the world's largest private data centers to an integral part of the interpretation process available in a shared and collaborative environment.
DecisionSpace® 365 Seismic Processing Essentials is a hosted seismic processing solution that helps provide a full-featured processing environment to enable seismic processing professionals to run processing workloads without having to own and operate a private data center. The solution was developed in conjunction with cloud computing experts, so the environment is specifically designed and tuned to reduce the challenges of processing seismic data in the cloud. The solution seeks to be economical enough to be used by individual consultants while offering the necessary scalability to support large projects and multiple processors.
Seismic Processing Essentials is a turnkey cloud-based solution designed for operators, consultants, and service companies that need to perform seismic processing, but may not have the interest, expertise, or capital to own and manage a private data center. Powered by industry-leading cloud providers, this solution allows seismic processors to create their own virtual data center optimized for their current workload. When the project requirements change, the Essentials environment can be updated to stay in sync with project demands. This means the Essentials environment can be utilized for seismic processing workflows that utilize geophysical algorithms ranging from noise reduction to depth imaging of complex geological structures.
Another big advantage is that expanding the Essentials processing environment to meet the demands of a project can be done interactively and the expansion does not consume capital expenditures. This gives processors the flexibility to use on-demand computing nodes without sacrificing performance. Not only does the environment allow for optimizing resources and costs, but it also includes many algorithms based on ML (Machine Learning) to enhance the data and reduce the processing cycle time.
This cloud-based SeisSpace® processing technology offers a comprehensive set of time and depth processing tools that can be used to process data from field QC (Quality Control) to advanced 4D, multi-component or Migration Velocity Analysis workflows used to feed time and depth migrations. The solution also delivers advanced depth processing like Kirchhoff, RTM (Reverse Time Migration), WEM (Wave Equation Migration), Demigration, Illumination Analysis, Common Azimuth Migration, and Acoustic and Elastic Forward Modeling; all of which can be dynamically setup with just a few clicks.
The Seismic Processing Essentials solution provides an environment that is specifically designed and tuned for each customer, based on their unique seismic processing challenges (Figure 1).
This solution helps democratize access to cloud computing technology for seismic processing by delivering almost unlimited computing power without needing capital investment.
For most locations, large upfront capital expenditures are not necessary because compute costs transition to operating expenses that are related to the current level of activity, thereby empowering smaller to medium-sized companies to compete on the largest and most complex depth imaging workflows. The solution moves seismic processing workflows from proprietary private data centers to a computing environment hosted in one of the largest public clouds. Operating expenses can also be reduced by using compute resources in locations where cooling and energy costs are significantly cheaper. By doing this, the Seismic Processing Essentials solution can help reduce environmental impact since the cloud-based data centers seek to use alternative energies to reduce their carbon footprint.
The SeisSpace technology is utilized by a large portfolio of customers ranging from NOCs, super majors, mid-size and small operators, services companies, universities, and government institutions. The Seismic Processing Essentials solution is supported on a global scale by a robust customer success team to offer support anytime, anywhere.
As on-prem hardware ages or leases expire, processing professionals are migrating to the cloud. Seismic Processing Essentials is a cloud-based solution delivering a modern seismic processing environment that doesn’t require upfront capital investment for a private data center. In addition, Seismic Processing Essentials solution has an evergreen environment with access to the latest hardware as it becomes available from the cloud providers. The solution has already been deployed in the US and Europe, and we can deploy it anywhere as long as there are approved data centers.
The industry has recognized that our effort of moving the SeisSpace software to the cloud is one of the best exploration new technologies of 2022 (Figure 2). We were selected as a finalist for the World Oil Awards under the category, “Best Exploration Technology Award”.
Customers who participated during the beta tests trials strongly endorsed the Seismic Processing Essentials solution. Here are a few of them:
The Seismic Processing Essentials solution is our foundation and the first step in migrating seismic processing to the cloud. Halliburton Landmark plans to continue investing in seismic processing as a key component of the geophysics portfolio and we will continue integrating the pre-stack and post-stack domains in order to accelerate the timeframe to deliver the best possible results.
As the SeisSpace software continues its cloud transition, we will continue to partner with cloud computing experts to leverage cloud-native technologies and architectures to help reduce processing time for the most complex workflows. In addition, as we transition to the cloud, we will continue to implement new geophysical deterministic and machine learning based algorithms to seek to improve data quality, reduce the cycle time, and help users to become more efficient.
