World growth in energy demand continues to drive strong development of technologies of surface geophysical exploration. A new era of geophysical data processing is coming, in particular, due to high density and wide azimuth of seismic data acquisition offshore, and ultra-high channel systems in operation for land data acquisition.
Advances in seismic processing technology for processing the resulting huge data volumes have been made possible by continual growth in computational capability. The complex near surface and subsurface imaging problems that we ignored before or relied on approximate solutions are now studied with more sophisticated geophysical technologies.
Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) and Society of Petroleum Geophysicists (SPG) in China co-organize this conference in Shenzhen, China to explore the new challenges and solutions to the surface geophysical exploration with the following topics:
- Geophysical applications in complex near-surface and subsurface areas
- Marine geophysics, Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC) data processing and imaging
- Unconventional gas exploration, including coal bed, mudstone, and shale gas.
- New geophysical imaging technologies: RTM, waveform tomography, etc.
- Reservoir geophysics: fluid detection, rock physics, high resolution data analysis
- New acquisition equipment and advances in survey design
Post Conference Review
The SPG/SEG Shenzhen 2011 International Geophysical Conference was held in Shenzhen Minghua International Conference Center from 7 to 10 November, 2011. The topic of discussion at the Conference was "Geophysical applications in complex near-surface and subsurface areas." The conference was co-organized by SPG and SEG, co-sponsored by BGP, CNOOC Limited Zhanjiang Branch, China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) Physical Prospection Dept. and CNOOC Energy Technology & Services-Oilfield Technology Services Co.
More than 510 representatives from China, the United States, Canada, Norway, Saudi Arabia and other foreign countries joined the conference, as did local delegates from CNPC, Sinopec Group, CNOOC, and related universities, colleges and research institutes. Mr. Wang Tiejun ( Chairman of the Steering Committee, BGP President), Mr. Bob A. Hardage (SEG President), Mr. Wang Xiaomu (Co-Chairman of the Executive Committee, SPG Director), Prof. Zhang Jie (Co-Chairman of the Executive Committee, Chairman of SEG China Advisory Committee), Mr. Steven Davis (Executive Director of SEG) attended the conference.
SPG director Mr. Wang Xiaomu presided at the opening ceremony, Mr. Wang Tiejun and Mr. Bob A. Hardage delivered opening speeches, and expressed the hopes to the delegates to broaden the vision and thoughts through exchange and seminars, to work together to promote the development of petroleum exploration technology all over the world.
This conference collected 265 articles from local and international speakers, and screened 224 on CD, of which 181 technical papers were included under four sub-topics:
- Geophysical applications in complex near-surface and subsurface areas;
- Reservoir geophysical technology;
- New geophysical imaging technologies;
- Geophysical marine exploration and complex land areas.
Six experts including Zhou Jiaxiong, Mike Branston, Hao Huimin, Mandy Wong, Ling Yun, and Gerard Schuster were invited to deliver special technical speech during the opening session. In the afternoon on November 7, a workshop with the theme "Multi-component seismic data acquisition and imaging" was held prior to the opening of the conference. SEG President Dr. Bob Hardage gave two keynotes lectures, including one on Direct Shear Waves from Vertical-Force Sources, and the other on P-wave and S-wave Backscatter Noise across Surface Exposed High-Velocity Rocks. Dr. Lee Bell also gave two lectures, one on Analysis of a 3D-3C Dataset for Fracture Related Anisotropy over the Marcellus Shale, and the other on 4-C OBC Processing Challenges.
Through the technical seminar and exhibition, geophysicists from China and abroad presented and exchanged new ideas of geophysical technologies. Senior officials from BGP and SEG also held a summit meeting to discuss the further cooperation and the future international conferences on the preparation. The conference was concluded with a great success.