top of page

MAN MANAGEMENT

EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT of organizations, projects and equipment is critical to the success of every drilling project and the financial performance of every drilling company. Furthermore, meaningful performance indicators are established at an early stage, and at all levels of the organization in order to measure the effectiveness of the strategy.

 

Our land projects range from a few hundred to several thousand contractor crew members.Teams working together through long periods, and large survey areas, will need to overcome many logistical issues as a matter of course. Our independent QC and project management experience, adopts the pre-emptive avoidance of personal and technical risk. 

​

Having managed projects over many years, we know to expect the unexpected and to prepare and plan for every eventuality. For example, if an emergency should require switching consultants in the field, we can manage these changes easily.

Each land seismic QC/QA team member has a wealth of practical experience. Our project management skills enable us to co-ordinate the entire project cycle, no matter how large or small, working closely with you and the contractor to ensure the desired outcome is achieved. Our people really work as a team and enjoy working together and with you.

Our experience of jungle, tea gardens, mountains and forests terrains and urban terrains, means we achieve success for your seismic project, whatever the terrain.

Land seismic acquisition QC/QA

Our acquisition QCs operate in 2D, 3D and 4D environments onshore as well as in the transition zone and VSP surveys onshore.

Land acquisition QA/QC for land acquisition is a combination of quality assurance, the process or set of processes used to measure and ensure the quality of a product, and quality control, the process by which products and services meet customer expectations. Quality assurance is process-oriented and focuses on defect prevention, while quality control is product-oriented and focuses on defect detection.

Our QC/QA at land acquisition is responsible for the overall quality of the seismic and position data. In addition to this role, they often also take on a HSSE QA /QC role, instead of a reticent HSSE consultant. A QC/QA has in-depth knowledge of positioning control and geophysics, as well as field experience. They are able to understand a project holistically and know how and to what extent each factor will affect the final dataset. An acquisition QC/QA adds value to the data, not only because they are an extra set of eyes and ears, but also because they bring expertise from other surveys and from working with large operators.

The experience that our QC/QA provides also benefits the contractors, especially the less experienced ones, as they do not have to learn many potential mistakes first hand and at cost. The consultant is also quickly in the picture and can issue appropriate warnings when activities start to deviate from the optimum.

Before we start surveying, our acquisition QC offers a face-to-face meeting with the client. This is the best way to understand the client's objectives and the contractor's capabilities so that potential technical, logistical and HSSE difficulties can be identified and avoided in advance.

Positioning QC/QA & Surveying

We provide survey QC/QA services for 2D, 3D and 4D land surveys, TC seismic surveys and onshore pipeline inspections.

Seismic acquisition requires navigators and engineers need to know their position with absolute accuracy. Our QC/QA consultant for land survey positioning and transition zones is responsible for verifying the position of the seismic data. They also review the launch procedure and check the preliminary and final SPS data before it is finally accepted by the client.

For 2D land surveys, the survey QC often oversees the construction of GPS control grids using RTK GPS methods to enable the accurate well positioning of boreholes before the planned programme lines are drawn in relation to the actual well locations.

Seismic Data Processing & QC/QA for Land

In addition to seismic processing quality control for land and TC fields, we also provide specialised seismic processing, seismic data processing quality control and internal seismic processing management quality control.

The sequence of events in seismic processing can be divided into three areas: Deconvolution, Common Mid-Point (CMP) or Common Depth Point (CDP) Stacking and finally Migration. Deconvolution, the process by which reduces the received wavelet is reduced to a spike, increases the resolution of the seismic data and attenuates short-period multiple samples, revealing the first reflections. The multiple sampled data is averaged in the stacking process and finally, during migration, the data is moved back to the location where it originated, from as opposed to where it was recorded at the surface.

Knowing the geology before the survey takes place and having the presence of a geophysicist on site as a QC allows the client to get migrated data in key areas before it is processed months later by a processing company, saving the operator a lot of time. When processing seismic data on land (unlike in the ocean), static corrections must be made to account for elevation differences in height between the source and receiver positions. Later, further residual static corrections have to be made to compensate for the variable velocity of sound in the near-surface region - all of which are important to get right in the field.

To make seismic processing as cost-efficient as possible, we need to briefly look briefly at the three main methods of seismic data processing methods, namely:

  • Deconvolution, which aims to reduce the received seismic wavelet to a spike, thereby increasing the resolution of the seismic data and attenuating short-period multiples

  • Common-Mid-Point (CMP) stacking (also called Common-Depth-Point or CDP stacking), which attempts to average out the multiple sampled data.

Migration, where the seismic data is returned to the point from which it was reflected, rather than to a point below the common mid-point position.

Deconvolution and batch processing are best done in the field as the logistics are easier and also allows the processing flow to feed back quickly,to improve the survey process.

Migration processing will normally takes place after the survey. However, if the contractor has adequate facilities and the client representative is sufficiently skilled and experienced, then another, faster form of migration processing can also take place out in the field while the survey is still underway, in the form of a smaller migrated cube. This can save time and costs for the operator, as the rig plant can be approximately positioned before the full survey is complete, rather than the operator having to wait until the migration processing is fully completed in the field.

The level of complexity of the seismic processing that the operator acquires on site depends on the processing capability of the contractor, the skills of the contractor (and independent consultant) and the operator's willingness to invest in the process,

Technical audits for land

The benefits of technical auditing are as follows:

  • Improvement in internal control systems to mitigate the potential risk

  • Improvement in the quality of service

  • Assurance of revenue

  • Transparent and cost-effective procurement of goods and services

  • Completion of project on time

  • Reduction of project cost and annual operating cost

A technical audit (TA) for land seismic is performed by our auditors, who evaluate deficiencies or areas of improvement in a process, system or proposal. Technical audits cover the technical aspects of the project implemented in the organization.

  • The technical operations are being performed as per requirement

  • Sound framework of control is in place to sufficiently mitigate the potential risk

  • The procured technical equipment is technically suitable for the purpose and is within the manufacturer’s technical specifications

  • Authority and responsibility for operating activities are assigned properly

  • Information system is adequate to provide assurance of operating activities being performed properly.

Our Team undertakes independent technical audits to analyze the technical performance of land seismic survey crews.

  • Receivers (geophones and recording equipment) – typically 10% of the geophones are tested. The duration of a test is number dependent, but is usually completed in one or two full days

  • Source (vibrators, dynamite) – blasting and vibrator equipment timing is usually tested in a single day

  • Positioning networks/base station

Pre-survey and post-survey testing is conducted on the survey recording, energy source and survey equipment. The survey control is audited, the acquisition reviewed and the processing of field survey data as well as evaluation and approval of survey equipment is all carried out prior to start-up.

GPS static control networks, equipment checks, and calibration tests on GPS receivers are all reviewed. The type of tests used include relative sensitivity tests, noise/distortion, and peak particle velocity observations for vibroseis and explosive sources. Importantly, at random times, acquisition parameter specifications are checked and the technical part of contracts are evaluated as equipment can go wrong at any time.

bottom of page