About SEAM (SEG Advanced Modeling Corporation)

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Advanced Modeling Corporation is an industrial consortium dedicated to large-scale leading-edge geophysical numerical modeling.

The SEAM Story

Founding

SEAM was organized in 2004 following in the footsteps of successful industry co-operatives including the SEG/EAGE salt model and the private SMAART joint venture. SEG volunteer scientists designed the organizational and self-supporting SEAM business model which gained the support of the SEG leadership. SEAM was then incorporated as an independent non-profit corporation in February 2007, classified as a 501(c)(6) and solely owned by SEG. SEAM is governed by a Board of Directors with fiscal and operational accountability.

Beginnings

Following incorporation, 24 companies joined the first initiative (Phase I – Salt Tectonics). This project proved the value of industry cooperation in addressing very large and complicated numerical simulations of geophysics in complex geology. Later, the Phase I subsequently attracted significant additional funding from the United States government to further progress the aims of the effort. The project required significant breakthroughs in both model building and numerical simulation, advancing the state-of-the-art throughout the industry. Models and data from this project have since become the international standard by which geophysicists worldwide benchmark their capabilities of seismic structural imaging.

Growth

Following this first project, SEAM has addressed additional challenges in land geophysics, pore pressure, time lapse reservoir monitoring, life of field, and artificial intelligence. Over 80 companies have partnered with SEAM in these projects, which have advanced the industry capabilities in large scale integration of geologic and geophysical modeling.

Future

The role of numerical modeling significantly impacts not only the processing and interpretation of seismic data in the oil and gas industry, but also the direct integration of modeling results into reservoir management workflows.

SEAM simulates numerical benchmark data sets for long-term utilization at a fraction of the cost of field experiments. The research on models tackling challenges of interest to the industry enables the research community to apply results and observations from a common model to analogues, and then apply them to directly impact decisions about improving reservoir performance.

Generic data in model form overcomes the restrictive nature of access to “real” data, which data owners often are reluctant to release for various reasons, and instances in which complete subsurface details are inferred rather than known.