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"Imaging of a Salt Face and Truncating Updip Sands using Offset VSP (OVSP) and a Salt Proximity Survey (SPS) in the Gulf of Mexico"
Yingping Li, Baker Atlas

Abstract Summary: This paper presents a case history of a recent VSP survey on a salt dome in the Gulf of Mexico with both refraction and reflection methods. A refraction salt proximity survey (SPS), an offset VSP (OVSP), and a rig source checkshot were acquired. The arrival times and directions of the SPS data were analyzed to determine the salt shape. The reflections from the OVSP data were migrated to image both the salt face and the sediment reflectors. Results from both methods were incorporated to provide precise definition of the salt face and reservoir sands in the sediment rocks flanking the salt dome. Furthermore, we present a sensitivity test for the SPS, from which the lower and upper bounds of the salt exit points are estimated. Click here to read Yingping Li's SEG paper in its entirety.

Biographical Sketch: Yingping Li received the Ph.D. degree in Geophysics from State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook in 1992. He worked on imaging sediment and lithosphere structures in Hawaii with the reverse VSP method for his PhD dissertation, then after completing the Ph.D. he worked at Earth Resources Laboratory, MIT as a postdoctoral fellow and then a research scientist. At MIT he worked on 4D imaging of hydraulic fracture growth by passive seismic monitoring to delineating fractures, optimal design of a hydraulic fracture monitoring survey, and modeling of near-surface structure with a reverse VSP. In 1997 Dr. Li joined Baker Atlas where he is currently a senior geophysics. His current research interests include 3D imaging salt flanks, single-well imaging, and advanced VSP processing techniques.