Seismic reprocessing and attributes for geothermal exploration: a case study in Friesland, Netherlands

Abstract

Global development of sustainable energy is driving new methods of exploration and exploitation of geothermal energy. Reprocessing of vintage seismic data is shown to considerably enhance these data as well as derived seismic attributes for reservoir and fault characterisation. In this study, new reflection seismic processing and interpretation methodology is developed. Seismic attribute analysis performs substantially better on reprocessed data, particularly on Non Local Means filtered data. It enables interpretation by autotracking of horizons up to 6 km depth. Previous interpretations can be readily revised and geologic formations and faults that could not be interpreted before are now mapped in detail.