Internal Multiple Attenuation Using Inverse Scattering Series and Multi-Dimensional Curvelets: Case Study from the Red Sea

Summary The unexplored offshore Egyptian Red Sea area is made up of large, untested structures and well-established hydrocarbon systems, offering exceptional growth opportunities for oil companies. Advanced processing technologies are required to improve subsurface understanding and decrease risks associated with exploration and drilling new plays. Effective attenuation of internal multiples is a crucial step in mitigating the earth model building and imaging processes over complex, highly stratified basins and pre-salt targets. We propose an internal multiple attenuation workflow based on the inverse scattering series (ISS) prediction followed by a multi-dimensional curvelet domain adaptive matching. The main goal of our work is to devise a general methodology that is data-driven and robust to underlying geological changes, providing a complete data-driven solution for a complex multiple contamination scenario. Results from one 2D line case study illustrate the robustness of the method for prediction and attenuation of complex internal multiples without any prior information about the subsurface, while preserving the primaries.