Ensuring Accurate Data Loading: Key Steps and Location Accuracy
Before loading SEG-Y files into an interpretation system, analysis tool, or data repository, several critical questions must be addressed. The image effectively highlights key considerations for preparing seismic files properly.
SeisShow and AnalyzeSE take care of everything, eliminating the need to manually locate bytes for key fields and addressing all necessary items.
After careful review, it’s clear we should cover these topics across multiple posts.
As the saying goes, “Be sincere, be brief, be seated”, often attributed to Franklin D. Roosevelt. So today we’ll focus on key steps for loading data for immediate use.
Our primary concern is: Location! Location! Location!
With seismic data now integral to GeoSteering, accuracy is crucial. Modern drilling pads support 32+ wells, so even small spacing errors can impact well positioning and fail to warn of faults and hazards for all wells on a pad.
A key concern is accurately identifying XY values from the Trace Headers or Load Sheet and carefully checking spacings. As shown in the second image, if the expected spacing is 110 feet but the data reads 110.5 feet, the grid could be off by up to 1,000 feet in X and Y by the end of the survey or greater if the survey had more lines and traces..
Ensure your Projection System is correct. The image below uses Texas Central, NAD 27, but results would vary significantly with Texas Central, NAD 83 or Texas North Central, NAD 27. Incorrect datums have led to many dry holes.
Share your experiences here to help guide the order of our future posts. You can also contact us here: resolvegeo.com/contact and share the post with others. Your insights are valuable, and we’re always surprised by new challenges.
About Don Robinson
Don Robinson has dedicated over 50 years to software development and seismic analysis. He founded Oklahoma Seismic Corporation in 1980 and co-developed the MIRA interpretation system, later acquired by Landmark Graphics in 1993. He then started Resolve GeoSciences in 1997, where he now leads the development of SeisShow and AnalyzeSE, software for analyzing and correcting SEG-Y seismic data.
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