Seismic progress

Feb. 28, 2000
The excellent article in your Petroleum in the 21st Century special issue entitled Seismic Progress was indeed educational to all of us who marvel at geophysical progress in this decade (OGJ, Dec. 13, 1999, p. 32).

The excellent article in your Petroleum in the 21st Century special issue entitled Seismic Progress was indeed educational to all of us who marvel at geophysical progress in this decade (OGJ, Dec. 13, 1999, p. 32).

I have personally become involved in one additional specialty. That is the fast mathematical algorithms (software) to help gather, move, compress, process, and manage these enormous piles of seismic data with guaranteed accuracy.

Modern seismic surveys are in the 10 Terabyte (Tbyte) sizes and maybe 100 Tbyte planned. To give perspective on volume size of 1 Terabyte (Tbyte), it would take 2,895 days to transmit through the typical dial-up modem, 61 days through a T-1 line, or 3 days if compressed 20 to 1 through a T-1 line.

Compression is already being used for day-to-day processing, interpreting, and transmitting seismic data.

Old roughnecks like me may not understand how the software works, but it helps our industry improve the odds of finding and producing the oil and gas the world needs. Let's hear it for brains!

Wayne E. Swearingen
Swearingen Petroleum Management Inc.
Tulsa