Coding of signals for efficient acquisition Patent number: 10215872 Abstract: A method for use in marine seismic surveying includes: towing at least a portion of a marine seismic survey spread; imparting a composite swept seismic signal from the marine seismic survey spread, the composite swept seismic signal including a plurality of randomized subsweeps having different frequencies relative to one another and being emitted in parallel; and receiving a respective return for each of the subsweeps. Type: Grant Filed: November 10, 2016 Date of Patent: February 26, 2019 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventor: Raymond Lee Abma Analytically generated shooting schedules for use with patterned and simultaneous source acquisition Patent number: 10024989 Abstract: According to an embodiment, there is provided a system and method of collecting seismic data using a predetermined pattern of source activations that is intended to control the properties of the resulting seismic signal. One embodiment utilizes a seismic source array (or, more generally, any collection of controllable sources) to create a series of spaced apart in time source activations, with the spacing and number of such activations being used to shape the resulting signal. In one method of building sweeps, the guns are fired at an increasing rate (decreasing time separation) as time goes by. Other patterns may be generated by decreasing the firing rate as time goes by, or some combination of the foregoing. In an embodiment, the rate of the increase or decrease in the firing rate will change from pattern to pattern. Type: Grant Filed: January 22, 2015 Date of Patent: July 17, 2018 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Allan Ross Spatial sampling improvements and the formation of arrays using popcorn and simultaneous source acquisition Patent number: 9841520 Abstract: So-called "Popcorn shooting", and especially continuous Popcorn shooting, combined with simultaneous source shooting allows considerable flexibility in producing high-resolution data and in creating source arrays. Using a combination of simultaneous source de-blending and Popcorn reconstruction it is possible to construct using post acquisition processing arrays of any desired length by constructing a popcorn pattern that takes into account the vessel speed and physical arrangement of guns behind the towing vessel. Type: Grant Filed: March 13, 2015 Date of Patent: December 12, 2017 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Allan Ross CODING OF SIGNALS FOR EFFICIENT ACQUISITION Publication number: 20170176619 Abstract: A method for use in marine seismic surveying includes: towing at least a portion of a marine seismic survey spread; imparting a composite swept seismic signal from the marine seismic survey spread, the composite swept seismic signal including a plurality of randomized subsweeps having different frequencies relative to one another and being emitted in parallel; and receiving a respective return for each of the subsweeps. Type: Application Filed: November 10, 2016 Publication date: June 22, 2017 Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventor: Raymond Lee Abma Seismic source coding, activation, and acquisition Patent number: 9678233 Abstract: The Monte-Carlo method of generating Popcorn shooting patterns starts with the number and sizes of the guns available and the length in time of the desired Popcorn pattern. The firing times and order of the guns will be randomly perturbed and a large number of Popcorn patterns built. Candidate Popcorn patterns will then be tested against a set of criteria to identify acceptable or the best patterns. These criteria may include limits on maximum peak strength, distinctiveness compared to the other patterns, and the size of the notches and peaks in the spectra. Type: Grant Filed: November 13, 2014 Date of Patent: June 13, 2017 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Allan Ross Independent Simultaneous Shooting Acquisition With Vertical Seismic Profile Recording Publication number: 20160018540 Abstract: A method for use in vertical seismic profiling includes: independently and simultaneously shooting a plurality of seismic sources in a plurality of shooting areas to impart seismic signals into a water bottom: receiving reflections of the seismic signals from a subterranean formation beneath the water bottom at a plurality of seismic receivers; and recording the received reflections; wherein, one of the seismic sources and the seismic receivers are disposed in a wellbore in the water bottom. Type: Application Filed: September 29, 2015 Publication date: January 21, 2016 Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Brian Hornby, David John Howe, John Naranjo, Min Zhou Spatial Sampling Improvements and the Formation of Arrays Using Popcorn and Simultaneous Source Acquisition Publication number: 20150260867 Abstract: So-called "Popcorn shooting", and especially continuous Popcorn shooting, combined with simultaneous source shooting allows considerable flexibility in producing high-resolution data and in creating source arrays. Using a combination of simultaneous source de-blending and Popcorn reconstruction it is possible to construct using post acquisition processing arrays of any desired length by constructing a popcorn pattern that takes into account the vessel speed and physical arrangement of guns behind the towing vessel. Type: Application Filed: March 13, 2015 Publication date: September 17, 2015 Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Allan Ross Analytically Generated Shooting Schedules for Use with Patterned and Simultaneous Source Acquisition Publication number: 20150204991 Abstract: According to an embodiment, there is provided a system and method of collecting seismic data using a predetermined pattern of source activations that is intended to control the properties of the resulting seismic signal. One embodiment utilizes a seismic source array (or, more generally, any collection of controllable sources) to create a series of spaced apart in time source activations, with the spacing and number of such activations being used to shape the resulting signal. In one method of building sweeps, the guns are fired at an increasing rate (decreasing time separation) as time goes by. Other patterns may be generated by decreasing the firing rate as time goes by, or some combination of the foregoing. In an embodiment, the rate of the increase or decrease in the firing rate will change from pattern to pattern. Type: Application Filed: January 22, 2015 Publication date: July 23, 2015 Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Allan Ross Shot scheduling limits for seismic acquisition with simultaneous source shooting Patent number: 9081107 Abstract: According to an embodiment of the instant invention there is provided a method for collecting a blended source seismic survey that utilizes new approach to determining a random time separation between successive shots. The random time separation may be drawn in some embodiments from a distribution of uniformly distributed numbers, with ?>1/(2 f), where ? is the half-width of the uniform distribution and f is the lowest frequency of interest in the survey. Type: Grant Filed: January 12, 2012 Date of Patent: July 14, 2015 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Gerard Joseph Beaudoin, Zhiyong Jiang SEISMIC SOURCE CODING, ACTIVATION, AND ACQUISITION Publication number: 20150131409 Abstract: The Monte-Carlo method of generating Popcorn shooting patterns starts with the number and sizes of the guns available and the length in time of the desired Popcorn pattern. The firing times and order of the guns will be randomly perturbed and a large number of Popcorn patterns built. Candidate Popcorn patterns will then be tested against a set of criteria to identify acceptable or the best patterns. These criteria may include limits on maximum peak strength, distinctiveness compared to the other patterns, and the size of the notches and peaks in the spectra. Type: Application Filed: November 13, 2014 Publication date: May 14, 2015 Applicant: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC. Inventors: RAYMOND LEE ABMA, ALLAN ROSS Method and apparatus for marine wide azimuth towed steamer seismic acquisition Patent number: 8942060 Abstract: This is a method of acquiring marine wide azimuth towed streamer seismic data. Preferably, a recording boat which tows a plurality of seismic streamers and at least one source may be accompanied by a plurality of source boats that each tow at least one source. The source boats may preferably activate their respective sources such that the subsurface reflections generated by each source interfere. The time separation between successive shots may preferably be a random variable related to the lowest frequency of interest in the data. Additionally, the source boats may preferably be alternatively fired from the head and tail of the recording streamers. Type: Grant Filed: August 2, 2011 Date of Patent: January 27, 2015 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Gerard Beaudoin Seismic acquisition method and system Patent number: 8837255 Abstract: The maximum output of a seismic source array may be reduced by activating the individual seismic sources within these seismic source array in a pattern that is extended in time rather than by the presently employed conventional simultaneous activation of a large number of individual seismic sources. Methods are disclosed which take data shot with patterned sources and may use a sparse inversion method to create data with the about same image quality as that of conventional sources. In this manner the output of the maximum impulse of a seismic source array may be reduced by an amplitude factor of about 10 in the examples shown here, corresponding to a reduction of about 20 dB while maintaining virtually the same seismic image quality. The disclosed methods may be used in combination with any simultaneous sourcing technique. In addition, the disclosed methods may be used with a plurality of source arrays. Type: Grant Filed: December 9, 2011 Date of Patent: September 16, 2014 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Allan Ross, Raymond Lee Abma Method for separating independent simultaneous sources Patent number: 8559270 Abstract: This is a method of separating simultaneous sources that uses an inversion-type approach. Each source will preferably activated at a random time with respect to the others. These random delays tend to make the interference between sources incoherent while the reflections create coherent events within a series of shots. The shot separation is performed via a numerical inversion process that utilizes the sweeps for each shot, the start times of each shot, and the coherence of reflection events between nearby shots. Implementation of this method will allow seismic surveys to be acquired faster and cheaper. Type: Grant Filed: August 6, 2010 Date of Patent: October 15, 2013 Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventor: Raymond Lee Abma SHOT SCHEDULING LIMITS FOR SEISMIC ACQUISITION WITH SIMULTANEOUS SOURCE SHOOTING Publication number: 20120176861 Abstract: According to an embodiment of the instant invention there is provided a method for collecting a blended source seismic survey that utilizes new approach to determining a random time separation between successive shots. The random time separation may be drawn in some embodiments from a distribution of uniformly distributed numbers, with ?>1/(2 f), where ? is the half-width of the uniform distribution and f is the lowest frequency of interest in the survey. Type: Application Filed: January 12, 2012 Publication date: July 12, 2012 Applicant: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Gerard Joseph Beaudoin, Zhiyong Jiang DISTANCE- AND FREQUENCY-SEPARATED SWEPT-FREQUENCY SEISMIC SOURCES Publication number: 20120147699 Abstract: There is provided a method of seismic acquisition that utilizes a bank of restricted-bandwidth swept-frequency sub-band sources as a seismic source. Each seismic source will cover a restricted sub-band of frequencies, with all the sources taken together covering the full frequency range. Adjacent frequency bands may partially overlap, but non-adjacent frequency bands should not. The sources may be divided into two or more groups, with no sources covering adjacent frequency bands being placed in the same group. The sources within a group can then be separated by bandpass filtering or by conventional simultaneous source-separation techniques. The source groups may be operated simultaneously but separated in space, and the individual sources themselves may each operate independently, on a sweep schedule customized for that particular source. Type: Application Filed: December 9, 2011 Publication date: June 14, 2012 Applicant: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC. Inventors: Joseph A. Dellinger, Raymond Lee Abma SEISMIC ACQUISITION METHOD AND SYSTEM Publication number: 20120147701 Abstract: The maximum output of a seismic source array may be reduced by activating the individual seismic sources within these seismic source array in a pattern that is extended in time rather than by the presently employed conventional simultaneous activation of a large number of individual seismic sources. Methods are disclosed which take data shot with patterned sources and may use a sparse inversion method to create data with the about same image quality as that of conventional sources. In this manner the output of the maximum impulse of a seismic source array may be reduced by an amplitude factor of about 10 in the examples shown here, corresponding to a reduction of about 20 dB while maintaining virtually the same seismic image quality. The disclosed methods may be used in combination with any simultaneous sourcing technique. In addition, the disclosed methods may be used with a plurality of source arrays. Type: Application Filed: December 9, 2011 Publication date: June 14, 2012 Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc. Inventors: Allan Ross, Raymond Lee Abma METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MARINE WIDE AZIMUTH TOWED STREAM SEISMIC ACQUISITION Publication number: 20120033525 Abstract: This is a method of acquiring marine wide azimuth towed streamer seismic data. Preferably, a recording boat which tows a plurality of seismic streamers and at least one source may be accompanied by a plurality of source boats that each tow at least one source. The source boats may preferably activate their respective sources such that the subsurface reflections generated by each source interfere. The time separation between successive shots may preferably be a random variable related to the lowest frequency of interest in the data. Additionally, the source boats may preferably be alternatively fired from the head and tail of the recording streamers. Type: Application Filed: August 2, 2011 Publication date: February 9, 2012 Applicant: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC. Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Gerard Beaudouin