Processing

The experience of direct national implementation of seismic surveys within the Iraqi National Oil Company by its crews began already in 1970 when the first seismic crew began its work in surveying Al-Ratawi area in Basra Governorate. In the same year, this important process was accompanied by another complementary process, i.e. carrying out seismic data processing work using the PCZ-4 analogue data processing system. The processing department was established on 25/10/1970 at the Iraqi National Oil Company (INOC) Centre in Baghdad.

Seismic data processing on this system continued until the end of the first quarter of 1975, when a plan was developed to expand exploration activities carried out by INOC, which was of course accompanied by an expansion of processing work. After the quantum leap in field recording methods that occurred in 1974 when the field recording technology was changed from analogue recording to digital recording, the same development occurred in recorded seismic information processing devices. The analogue system was replaced by a TIMAP digital computer system, which was also enhanced in 1978 with a computer of the same type in order to keep pace with the momentum of field work, which increased with the increase in the number of seismic teams operating at the time.

The plan included the use of advanced field equipment and the use of modern electronic computers for the purposes of processing seismic information. In the first quarter of 1975, a modern digital computer was installed at the centre of the Iraqi National Oil Company in Baghdad, and the date of the crews processed on the electronic computer in 1978 became 14 seismic crews, of which (7) were Iraqi and (6) were foreign, and data of three seismic crews were processed abroad.

During the 1980s, a five-year plan was developed to expand exploration activities, accompanied by an expansion of seismic data processing as well. One of the most important items of the (1980-1985) five-year plan was the Iraqization of all seismic information, i.e. all processing and interpretation of seismic information will take place inside Iraq. This is, of course, an important strategic goal in order to maintain confidentiality of information related to oil structures. In the summer of 1986, the VAX11/780 computer, which is more advanced in terms of speed and information storage, was installed; and in 1988 two TIMAP computers were updated.

In 1989, Oil Exploration Company decided to introduce 3D seismic survey technology in its three stages: field survey, processing, and interpretation into the company's production activity. For this decision, a full-time working team was formed from the concerned technical departments to study the issue and negotiate with international companies which supply equipment, hardware and software. Indeed, the company was able to sign three contracts with international companies to secure the requirements of the three stages by the end of 1989, on the understanding that the project would be started in mid-1990. Indeed, the field crew was equipped and work started. Balad Oil Field, which was then under evaluation and development, was selected to be surveyed. However, the requirements of the middle link in the series, i.e. software and computers specialized in 3D processing information, were not provided by the contractor due to the events of August 1990 and the imposition of the economic embargo on Iraq. The processing system (computer and software) was withheld and not provided, thus processing officials had to use the then available system (Disco 3D), which was purchased at the time with the fax computer (Vax/780) in 1986, and which was updated in 1989 and was decided to be unavoidably used to process field data in order to maintain continuity of the project work. The processing of 3D seismic survey data of Balad area started in mid July 1990.

After 2003, the seismic data processing department, which is unique in Iraq, was developed. This development included hardware, software and human cadres, and became supported by a number of modern processing programs such as CGG's Geovation Software Suite, Western Geco OMEGA and Paradigm's Echos, as well as the Vista system manufactured by Schlumberger for VSP data processing.

The Processing Department is one of the important departments in Oil Exploration Company, as it performs the work of reprocessing 2D seismic data (old paper and digital data) using a modern processing methodology, and processing newly recorded seismic data in 2D and 3D methods, in addition to vertical seismic processing (VSP) survey data using the latest data processing technologies available to provide the best results for the purpose of clarifying and reflecting a subsurface image of geological formations and structures through a series of geophysical operations in order to arrive at products of seismic information (stack seismic sections & seismic volumes) made ready for the purposes of interpretation and preparation of geophysical studies.

The following types of processing can be performed in the Processing Department:

Re-processing old seismic data by the latest technologies and applying a modern processing methodology.
Performing 2D and 3D processing of current seismic data in the time domain.
Amplitude preservation processing for studies related to gas exploration such as AVO and related to stratigraphic reservoirs.
Building the velocity model and pre-stack depth migration (PSDM) in 2D & 3D.
Processing vertical seismic survey data (Far offset and Zero offset).

The Department consists of two Sections:

2D & 3D Deep Processing Section: It performs the tasks of processing and reprocessing 2D lines, and processing of 3D seismic survey data. It consists of two sections:

2. 2D & 3D Time Processing Section:

It processes 2D & 3D seismic survey data and consists of two units:

Advanced Processing Unit