Integrated datasets hold the key to unravelling petroleum prospectivity

The search for hydrocarbons has spanned vast areas of the globe. Despite many successes, entire basins and plays have been deemed unprospective, perhaps prematurely, based on single well results, or poor-quality seismic data. The advent of broadband seismic acquisition, combined with new deghosting/imaging algorithms and exponential increases in computer processing power, has generated improved seismic images. These advances give scientists an opportunity to re-evaluate a region’s subsurface geology. The new interpretation, combined with geology-based datasets, is now being studied in conjunction with modern and historical seismic data, to fully understand petroleum prospectivity.