Role of high quality seismic data in field development and production through case studies from a giant offshore carbonate field, Abu Dhabi, UAE

A recent reprocessing of a large Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC) seismic dataset of an Offshore Carbonate Oilfield in U.A.E. resulted in significant seismic imaging, signal/noise ratio, and detectability improvements of faults and horizon geometries, which included new fault system sets never previously detected. In addition, seismic amplitude fidelity was improved significantly, confirmed by better well-ties and subsequent acoustic impedance inversion, which made seismic quantitative analysis possible (Zhang et al., 2010). This paper will focus on the description of successful applications of the seismic data in preand post-drilling analysis, understanding anomalous water production, and variability in production along boreholes through case studies.