History of Seismic Prospecting In ONGC A Chronological Sketch of Events

N.C. Sharma
Group General Manager (E), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited.

Throughout the history, the tools and the techniques

of exploration geophysics have been continually improved
both in performance and economy. This progress has been
in response to an unrelenting pressure to develop new
capabilities after existing ones have become inadequate to
find new reservoirs. In addition to the areas newly opened
for exploration, most geophysical surveys are undertaken
where previous ones have failed because the instrument,
field technique, processing or interpretational methods
were not able to image sub surface to the desired precision. Reservoirs that could be located with the existing
technology arc the only ones that will be discovered and
remaining will not be found until the technology improves
sufficiently. Thus the exploration geophysicist finds himself on the accelerating treadmill that must run faster and
faster just to stay where he is.

Since the end of World War II, continual progress

has been made by oil companies and equipment manufacturers in developing new and improved tools. Most of the
advancements in the seismic reflection methods were initiated with the primary objective of eliminating noise that
interferes with reflections i.e. improvement in signal to
noise ratio. A number of techniques, starting from the use
of equipment having vacuum tubes with thermal stylus/
optical recording, transistorized equipment with analog
magnetic recording, use of single receiver to multiple
receivers etc., were introduced during 1930s - 50s to
achieve better signal to noise ratio, dynamic range, greater
safety, economy or flexibility in the field operations. Evolution and implementation of Common Reflection Point
(CRP) was a quantum jump in the seismic reflection technique. Multi-fold data acquisition and start of offshore surveys during 60s needed seismic recording equipment with
increased number of channels and improved capabilities.
This also necessitated search for alternate energy sources,
which would be convenient, safe and fast. Above scenario
led to development of digital recording equipment with
large number of channels, low energy sources, remote
blasting through RF, portable mechanized drills etc. Most
of the low energy sources e.g. weight-drop, flexi choc,
sparker, air gun, vibrators etc were developed during
this period.. In 1963, digital recording equipment was
employed on a widespread basis and digital computers
were programmed to process the data thus acquired. Presentation of tape-recorded data on time corrected record
sections became common practice. The recording techniques and methodologies have ever since been greatly
improved over the years e.g. from analog recording to
advanced 24-bit Sigma Delta recording and from 2D to
3D, to 4D, to 3D-3C etc., full advantage being taken of the
increased storage capacity and speed of the computers as
well as other advances made by the mathematicians, communication and computer engineers in signal processing.

The earliest effort to locate hydrocarbon-bearing

structures by geophysical tool in 1915 involved gravity
measurements (EVCTOS balance). At about the same
time, seismic refraction methods were adopted and successfully located some big structures (mainly salt domes)
and obtained information about sub surface geometry and
interface velocities. Seismic refraction, however, could
not provide detailed image of geological structures and
anomalous features. Experiments with seismic reflection
methods were carried out in 1919. It was not until 1927,
however, that reflection methodology was put to work for
routine hydrocarbon exploration. By the early 1930, seismic reflection became the most widely used tool of all
geophysical techniques, the status it has maintained ever
since.

Seismic industry has made great strides and

contributed significantly in the growth of upstream oil
industry Present day technologies viz., 3D pre-stack depth
imaging, reservoir modeling, 4D seismic, 3D-3C, 4D-3C,
3C-VSP, AVO etc., have reduced uncertainties of the
business. Developments in the seismic have completely
revolutionized the exploration methodology and brought
far-reaching qualitative changes in the working. It has been
influential in the effort to establish more hydrocarbon in
place, recover more from the established hydrocarbon in
place which would otherwise have remained invisible or
uneconomic. Imagine! What would have happened to this
business without the innovations of last 10-15 years without 3D seismic? Without desktop workstations (?) Without
communication net (?) A pattern of contraction,

Introduction
Hydrocarbon exploration has come a long way since
the days, where, if the explorers truck broke down, they
just began drilling a well (wild-catting). Until well into the
twentieth century, the search for hydrocarbons was confined to deposits directly observable in the form of surface
seeps. When all the accumulation in an area that could be
discovered by such simple means had been exploited, it
became necessary to deduce the presence of hydrocarbon
in directly by downward projection of geological information observable in the surface. When this technique
reached the point of saturation, new methods were needed
to know beneath the surface. This involved physical measurements at the earth surface that could give information
about the structure or composition of concealed rocks
that might be useful for locating the reservoir in the sub
surface. To mention, some of such measurements which
could help in imaging sub surface are- gravity, magnetic,
reflection/refraction of acoustic waves, resistivity etc.

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/1

demoralization and even migration of

activities to low risk areas would have prevailed. Thanks to the continuous developments in the seismic industry, which
extended life to the oil companies that,
would have been written off years ago.
Quest for hydrocarbons in India began
in the dense and swampy jungles of
Assam in the year 1889. Leaving behind
the geological reasoning, legends has it
that an elephant traveling over an oil
seepage sparked off an earnest hunt for
petroleum. The exploration was to trace
the footsteps of the elephant back to the
seepage and then dig bay dig with Drake
type wooden rigs (Digboy oil field). And
so began the history of hydrocarbon
exploration in India. A small incident led to the present day
30 MMT of annual oil production and 6 Billion Tonnes of
reserves.
Geophysical prospecting for hydrocarbons played an
important role to put India on the oil map of world during
last five decades. Ever since the government of India
decided that exploration and production of hydrocarbons
will be taken up indigenously and made it a national policy
with exclusive responsibility of the state in 1955. This
decision of government of India was based on the need of
hydrocarbons in the country and political situation prevailing at that time. Western countries were of the opinion

Camp of a Sesimic Party

that except Assam there is no possibility of hydrocarbon
habitat in rest of India. Secondly, whatever effort they
wanted to put was on hydrocarbon sharing basis where
India was to get nominal share in the find. They were
neither ready to sell the equipment required for hydrocarbon exploration, nor train Indian scientists/engineers
in this domain. India at that point of time was following
a socialistic dream and wanted self sufficiency in hydrocarbons, technically as well as economically. Obviously,
India turned to Soviet block for help and support in this
matter. Soviet block knowing the importance of hydrocarbons in geopolitical scenario wanted a foothold in Middle
East and Southeast Asia. As such need of India for

Party Members enjoying a game of Volley Ball after field work

hydrocarbons and Soviet blocks ambitions had become complimentary to each

other. In 1956 Geological Survey of India,
Directorate of Oil and Gas was converted
to ONGC by an act of Parliament. As a
consequence of this decision, the government of India recruited geologists, geophysicists, and drilling engineers to start
ONGC with its headquarters at Dehradun and Sh. K D Malaviya as its chairman. Geophysical exploration was first
introduced by this first batch of apprentice geophysicists, who were the pioneers
of seismic prospecting in ONGC. At the
time when ONGC came into being, most
of the hydrocarbon wealth of India was
undiscovered and even proper resource
appraisal was also not made.

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/2

Mr. Kalinin, a renowned geologist from USSR, made the

first resource appraisal, took up all the activities of exploration and guided the geoscientists of ONGC in its formative
stages. On the basis of geological studies some locations
were identified for drilling in Gujarat and Assam. With
highly encouraging leads from the first oil well named
Lunej-1 and subsequently from Ankleshwar in Gujarat,
followed by a similar discovery in Rudrasagar in Assam,
ONGC formulated a deliberate strategy to increase geophysical activities in all the prospective sedimentary basins
of India. These activities kept pace with the sweeping
winds of change in seismic technology worldwide. Today
ONGC has developed a high degree of expertise and carries out most of the seismic operations in all the three
aspects of Acquisition, Processing and Interpretation both
on land and off shore on its own.
Country has an endowment of 26 sedimentary basins
within on-land and offshore areas. Total hydrocarbon
resources are estimated to be about 20 Billion Tonne.
In addition, on a very preliminary estimate, nearly 10
Billion Tonne of resources have been prognosticated for
deep waters beyond 200 m isobaths. Augmenting ONGCs
reserve accretion portfolio by harnessing largely domestic
and moderately foreign acreage is an immediate priority.
On domestic front, enhanced input levels within identified
thrust areas of both producing and frontier basins are
being expanded to capitalize on known prospects for quick
returns. Efforts are also cm to rope in virgin areas like
sub-trappean Mesozoic; deep waters areas for substantial
reserves accretion. Deployment of seismic parties (including contractual parties) since 1950s in ONGC is shown
below

Adoption of new geophysical techniques like

multi-component 3D, 4D, VSP / Tomography, AVO etc.
and use of Interactive Interpretation Workstations (IIWS)
with enhanced visualization capabilities and state of the art
compute intensive software certainly reduced uncertainties
of the business and enabled faster and informed decision
making thus reducing the cost of finds.

Major accretion followed a logical sequence of appropriate technological induction/up-gradation. Therefore, it is

imperative to introspect and upgrade the technology to the
desired level.

Growth of Seismic Prospecting in ONGC

The seismic prospecting in ONGC has undergone a
series of changes and advances since its inception in late
50s. The developments are mostly in the field of instrumentation, data processing, communication, and interpretational techniques. These advances are mainly attributed
to the aggressive exploration strategy, which is aimed at
accelerated reserve accretion and maximizing the production. The quest is unending. A brief description of historical developments during this period is mentioned at the
onset.

Late Fifties and Sixties

Seismic surveys commenced in late 1950s with the
deployment of analog/optical system. Mr. Yarapolk from
USSR was the chief geophysical adviser who trained and
guided geoscientists of ONGC and implemented seismic
data acquisition techniques. He was chiefly responsible for
giving shape to the seismic data acquisition in this country. The first seismic crew headed by Mr. A. M. Awasthi,
conducted 2D single fold seismic data acquisition using
24-channel CC-26-5 ID analog equipment in the foothills
of Jwalamukhi and Janouri area in Himachal Pradesh. The
data was recorded directly on photo paper with the help
of an oscillograph. American systems such as Pll, P22,
HTL5000, HALL & SEARS, and Russian systems like
CC-24- CC-26-51D were in use up to
middle/late sixties. Later on analog magnetic
recording equipment viz. MS-15A and GEOSPACE were introduced with the advantage
of reproducing the data at any time. Transistorized seismographs PT-100 were introduced
in late sixties as these systems had advantages of portability, power consumption, ease
of reproduction, higher dynamic range etc.
Different make geophones viz. Russian make
17 Hz, 4 Hz sensors for refraction surveys,
10 Hz sensors etc. were used with imported
reversible cables during this period. Later
under the technical guidance of ONGC, indigenously made reversible cables were put in
use. Computation and interpretation of seismic data were done manually by the field
crews and based on the study, time structure
maps were generated. Conventional methods
i.e. 2D seismic single fold surveys were in
practice and these surveys had successfully led to identification of broad structures and basin configuration.
Topographic surveys, an integral part of the seismic

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/3

date acquisition for precise positioning on ground

used to be carried by Prismatic Compass, Dumpy
Level and Plane Tabling. Survey of India contributed
significantly in providing manpower and also training
to ONGC survey crews.
Offshore seismic survey started in Western continental
margin in 1963, by hiring the vessel S. S. Mahindra. PT-100
PMR-7 seismograph with floating cables and marsh geophones were used for first offshore surveys. Navigation
was through shore based DECCA system. During this
period explosives was used as energy source on land as
well as in offshore. Logistics and environment were conducive for conducting any kind of surveys as these surveys
were new to the public and their curiosity along with the
feeling of national cause did not create many problems
for survey crews. The land crews used to stay in tents without basic amenities like electricity and clean water but the
members were highly motivated, full of zeal and enthusiasm to find hydrocarbon bearing structures. They were
pioneers on whom the responsibility of finding hydrocarbons was entrusted. They were more concerned about
goal than the modalities/comforts in the true explorationists spirit. During this period, a number of oil fields
like Cambay, Ankleshwar, Kalol, Sanand, North Kadi etc.
in Cambay basin and Galeki, Lakwa, Rudrasagar etc. in
Assam were discovered.
For processing of analog data, an analog processor GEODATA was introduced. This was basically a plotter of the
seismic traces with static corrections. Static corrections
were applied by shifting levers. In feet, this was the beginning of seismic data processing in ONGC. Computer Services Division (CSD) was established in 1969 with the
responsibility to process the seismic data. During the same
time Honey Well -400, a second-generation computer was
commissioned. Interpretation of these plots was done manually by picking time values and drawing time structure
maps. Oil production during 1961 was merely 0.01 MMt,
which reached to nearly 3 MMt by the end of sixties.

CDP seismic surveys were first undertaken using PT-100

seismograph with 24 channels, during 1972 by a crew
headed by Dr. YB Rao. That time roll along switch and
blasters were indigenously designed to meet the requirement of CDP surveys. By this time almost all the geophones were replaced by SM-4, 10 Hz geophones. Cables
were imported as well as indigenous.
First fully equipped geophysical vessel M V Anveshak
was commissioned in 1975 for conducting 2D CDP seismic surveys with digital recording equipment DFS IV
having dual tape transport and 48 channels, neutrally buoyant streamer with hydrophones. Streamer could be kept at
any depth up to 20 m in the water with the help of birds.
Bolt airgun arrays were used for energy source. Navigation system was MAGNAVOX, a transit satellite based
system NSS, in conjunction with Doppler Sonar and Gyro
for dead reckoning. This was considered the most reliable
and accurate state of the art navigation system. Such navigation aids were not available even to the Indian Navy
at that time. Besides this, contract survey vessels such as
Soviet Vessel Academic Arkhangelsokey in addition to
survey vessels from CGG and Western Geophysical were
also engaged for offshore data acquisition to meet the need
of exploration. The giant field Bombay High was first discovered as a result of the survey carried by the Soviet
Vessel. CGG and Western Geophysical did detailing of the
Bombay High field.
On land seismic crews were then equipped with DFS
III and SN-328 systems (Channel capacity of 24 to 48)
with Binary Gain Amplifiers that exhibited higher dynamic
range from 60 db to 84 db and better S/N ratio. At the same
time SN-338 seismograph was introduced featuring lowlevel

Seventies
The organization started growing multi dimensional
and oil production picked up. The oil production increased
to 3.94 MMT by 1971. The Nations demand, however,
was 17.91 MMT. Discovery of oil from major structures
and rising demand necessitated more rigorous exploration
efforts. Introduction of new techniques in seismic like
CDP, Vibroseis and Marine surveys along with sophisticated digital instruments with increased channel capacity (24 to 48 channel) during this period resulted in finer
detailing of subsurface and finding more hydrocarbons.
Strangely enough, number of channels were increased in
dozens instead of tens, which was legacy of Americans
where basic accounting is done in dozens (first seismic
equipment was designed in USA).

SN-338 Seismic Data Recording Unit

multiplexing and with IFP having modular expansion
capacity of 24 to 72 channels. Subsequently, DFS IV
seismograph with channel capacity up to 120 and with
IFP having 84 db dynamic range was also commissioned.
Rota-long switch and remote blasting systems from I/O
were introduced with these systems. Introduction of digital
recording systems could overcome the problems of signal
distortion, non-linearity of magnetic material and data thus
recorded could be directly processed by digital computers, which became available in 1971. Digital era in seismic recording and processing started worldwide in early
1970s and ONGC almost concurrently adopted it. With the
advent of new techniques, strength of geophysical parties

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/4

gained momentum and expanded in all the dimensions.

Vibrators from PRAKLA with correlator stacker, as an
alternate source of energy were introduced in 1976 and
a seismic crew equipped with SUMMIT-VII seismograph
having BGA and 48-channel capacity with vibroseis operations was sent to Iraq.
Topo surveying did not change much except that Auto
Level replaced the Dumpy Level. However, Plane Tabling
continued to be necessary part of the surveying for making
maps.
Processing of digital data started way back in 1971
with the introduction of a dedicated computer system
TIOPS-880 for the purpose of seismic data processing.
This computer had 24K word memory, which could process analog as well as digital data. With the CDP technique
in use and the huge amount of data acquired in the offshore, need for processing of larger volume of data was
felt direly Introduction of IBM-370/145 computer with
MVS operating system having 1 MB memory and array
processor in 1975 was a quantum jump in the seismic
data processing. This system was expected to meet the
processing needs of onshore data and onshore 2D data
acquired by ONGC. IBM computer was equipped with
PHOENIX application software. Data was processed by
creating punch cards for individual jobs.

and fulfill commitments to .the nation, an exploration strategy was formulated which necessitated aggressive efforts
on seismic exploration. In the changing scenario where
easy to find oil was nearing an end, exploration strategy
shifted from structural to stratigraphic or subtle traps.
Exploration of such traps was not only technologically
difficult but conceptually challenging. This syndrome
demanded high quality data, compute intensive processing and vital visualization tools to understand the sub surface in 3-dimensions. The technology up gradation became
necessary at this moment The latest digital seismographs
like DFS V from Texas Instruments and SN 358 from
SERCEL (with CS2502 correlator stacker for vibroseis
operations) with 15-bit recording were then introduced
which replaced DFS HI and DFS IV systems starting from
1984. These digital seismographs provided 96 channels
expandable up to 240 channels with better dynamic range
up to 84 db and also portability as the size of the modules
was very small as compared to the earlier ones. CMOS/
VLSI circuitry drastically reduced the size of the modules. This helped in conducting seismic surveys in logistically challenging areas e.g. Schuppen Belt in Nagaland,
Cachar in Assam etc. Calcutta city was also surveyed with
MDS-10 seismograph (which is generic to SN-358 and
DFS V systems) using vibrators as energy source during
1982-83. As the need grew, adoption of latest technology
proved to be of immense help. To meet the demand of the
exploration, seismograph SN-348, 15-bit recording, capable of handling 480 channels with line telemetry was introduced in 1984, At the same time, GEOCOR IV, a sign-bit
recording seismograph with 1024 channels capacity and
line telemetry was also introduced in 1985. The latest
techniques like 3D surveys and VSP surveys were introduced during this period. The first 3D campaign was done
with GEOCOR IV seismograph in 1985-86 using vibrators
as energy source in Balol field of Cambay basin. Subsequently, 3D surveys were also carried by merging capabilities of two DFS V seismographs.

IBM-370/145 System
Interpretation of the data thus processed was done on paper
sections. Synthetic seismograms were generated on the
computer and used to calibrate the seismic reflections on
the paper sections. Time values of the prominent reflections were picked and time structure maps were prepared
manually to infer structural details of the sub-surface. This
period witnessed discovery of new oil fields like giant
Bombay Off shore and a number of small oil fields.

Eighties
By this time, indigenous production increased to
10.51 MMt during 1980-81. However, the demand-production ratio remained same as the domestic demand also
increased to 26.71 MMt. To meet the fast growing needs

MDS-10 Seismic Data Recording Unit

VSP surveys were first attempted in 1985 using DSS-10
instrument with PERKINLELMER and MicroVax2

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/5

system for in field processing, which was procured exclusively for VSP surveys. GEOLOCK 2 well geophone was
used in all the VSP campaigns. In offshore, VSP surveys
were done by EG&G and DSS-10 equipment. A pilot project to monitor fire front in Balol in-situ combustion (timelapse seismic) was also undertaken.

Integrated navigation system used were MAXIRAN (shortrange shore based) and ARGO (long-range shore based)
systems in conjunction with the satellite-navigation MAGNAVOX with Doppler Sonar and Gyro systems. In addition, it had onboard seismic data processing system ND
570 for quality control and basic processing including
3D binning. First offshore 3D
campaign was acquired by Sagar
Sandhani under the technical collaboration with GSI, Singapore.

During this decade the geophysical parties had undergone a great

change. The infrastructural facilities including communication were
improved. To meet the production
requirement of the parties, low-tech
areas such as shot hole drilling and
DFS-V, Seismic Data Recording Unit Integrated with FPCS (Full Precision Correlator Stacker)
cable laying were farmed out. With
increasing demand for quality,
Adoption of new technologies, higher targets and techni- quantity, the environment problems also grew in quantum
cal expectations changed the very dimensions of seismic measures.
field party into those of a mini project. Rigorous training
in operation and maintenance of equipment was imparted
to Geophysicists and Engineers.

Encoder Model Enc-300

Rota-Long Switch RLS-240

During this period, advanced topo survey instruments
were introduced. Tg compass theodolite was deployed for
staking lines and tying coordinates, and combination of
T2 theodolite and EDM was deployed for measuring angle
and distance respectively.
Second offshore survey vessel M V Sagar Sandhani with
a helipad was acquired in 1986. The vessel was equipped
with DFS V seismograph having 120-channel, PRAKLA
streamer and Bolt air gun arrays to perform the current
state of art offshore 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys concurrently with gravity and magnetic surveys.

Decoder Model Dec.300

With the ever-increasing load of processing, in house

infrastructure for processing of the complete data was
inadequate and data started piling up. Changing demand of
exploration and multi objective, the reprocessing need also
started growing. To cope up with the pace, data were even
sent abroad for processing. The demand for processing,
reprocessing and special processing continued to increase
because of rapid growth in the exploration activities
and need for imaging geologically complex sub surface
accurately. To meet this demand VAX -11/780 system
having 2MB memory and two Marco Arithmetic Processor
MAP-300 with VMS operating system and Phoenix application software was introduced in 1981. This system used
terminals for submitting jobs instead of card punching.
The system was quite interactive and user friendly than
the IBM 370/45. Exploration activities were at its peak
during this period. Enhancement of seismic data coverage, introduction of more number of channels, 3D surveys, ever increasing data collection from offshore, and
increased efforts on-land necessitated introduction of a
powerful computer. As a consequence, IBM3083-JX3 with
4 array processors and terminals having main memory of
32 MB was commissioned at GEOPIC.

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/6

MV Sagar Sandhani
To distribute the load of processing on the centralized
system at GEOPIC, different regions of ONGC were also
equipped with computers to process the data generated in
the regions. TATA-ELXSI M-6400 computer with DIGICON application software equipped with Explorer UWS
was installed at Mumbai. At the same time during 1987-88,
ND-570 computer with SINTRON operating system and
GECO application software with Charisma-1 IIWS was
commissioned at Chennai. EC-1061 with MVS operating
system and DSS-3 application software with INGOS-IM

VAX-11 / 780 SYSTEM

IIWS were installed at Calcutta and Baroda. With the

enhanced processing capabilities, all the data could be
processed in house. The first onshore 3D campaign was
processed by GSI as a part of technical collaboration. At
the same time concurrent efforts were made to learn and
induct 3D processing of on-land data in house. During
1989-90 a first 3D campaign was processed by ONGC
at GEOPIC. RCC Mumbai and Chennai also tested their
capabilities of 3D processing. The regional computers
capacity and speed was however not adequate to process
the 3D data. The available processing computers were
capable to perform special processes such as FK and
Kirchoffs migration, PIVT, Trace attributes VSP processing, mapping and contouring etc. For processing of VSP
data. Micro VAX-2 processing systems were also commissioned.
Interpretation of the data still continued to remain a
manual effort until 1987 when one crystal Interactive Interpretation Workstation was inducted at GEOPIC. This IIWS
was capable of interpreting 3D seismic data, perform geophysical modeling, making maps, synthetic seismograms
and generating basic attributes and providing various types
of visualizations. However majority of the data were interpreted manually. The valuable acquired and processed
dataset required special visualization and interpretation
tools to extract finer detail of the sub surface. Three
more IIWSs from GEOQUEST were inducted in 1989 at
GEOPIC. which were capable to cater the need for 2D/3D
interpretation. This provided numerous utilities for data
manipulations and better visualization by integrating various exploratory data for precise mapping of subtle features. Understanding the need of advanced interpretation
of 2D/3D seismic and other geoscientific data at other

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/7

IBM-3083/JX3 System
work centers, SIDIS-2000 IIWSs with better visualization
tools and advanced state of the art application software
form GSl were introduced in 1992 in Baroda, Calcutta and
Jorhat, which could cater to the need of data analysis by
integrating various geoscientific data
During this period, number of oil field like South Bassein, Panna, Hira, Mukta, Tapti in Bombay offshore and
Gandhar and other small fields in Cambay and Assam were
discovered. K.G. and Cauvery basin were brought on to
the oil map of India. By the end of this decade, production
reached to 34 MMt yet the gap between demand and production could not be narrowed down. However, only 40%
of the resources could be converted into reserves at the end
of this decade.

Nineties to till date :

Finding new oil in 90s became increasingly technologically more difficult and conceptually challenging. At
the same time, economic accountabilities and environmental constraints enhanced in quantum measures. Consequently, future exploration investments were to be made
on more convincing expectations and our commitments
to the nation were to be met under lesser availability of
economic resources. In absence of easy to find hydrocarbon from giant structures, main emphasis came to search
of subtle traps and delineation of known fields to maximize the economic value of the fields. Such exploration
demanded finer study of the sub surface and hence the
seismic data with higher fidelity. MDS-16 DX and SN-368
line telemetry seismographs from HGS and CGG respectively, capable of recording more than 1000 channels,
having built-in roll along and line roll facility, were introduced. More and more 3D campaigns were planned. As
the needs grew, technology up gradation became inevitable. DFS V system, which was widely in use, became old.
By this time there has been significant development in the
acquisition technology.

The latest system SN-388 from SERCEL with the capacity of recording 8000 channels, 24-bit SIGMA DELTA
technology came in the market. These systems have unmatched dynamic range of 110 db and ensure highest fidelity of the signal recording and have inbuilt QC module.
Understanding the importance and benefits of these recording systems, ONGC procured such seismograph during
1996 which are widely used in line telemetry and mostly
engaged in acquiring 3D campaigns. Two RF telemetry
seismographs OPSEIS-EAGLE make having similar features of SN388 were also procured to meet the requirement
of data acquisition in logistically difficult areas, which
operate with radio telemetry system. During the same
period advanced vibrator electronics Advance-PELTON-2
with QC module and real time DGPS were also procured
for vibrator crews in operation. Taking advantages of
the cutting edge technology, quality became buzzword in
whole acquisition. In house developed on-board processing software PC-PRO (PC based processing software) has
been in use for online QC while acquiring data in the
field proved to be of immense help. Near surface modeling
through advanced up hole surveys became a routine for all
the field crews. BISON instrument procured during early
90s for mapping near surface have been in use for this purpose. In house developed INSM, a PC based software is
being used effectively for modeling near surface enabling
identification of adequate shooting medium and data correction for static near surface variations.
Hither to SM-4 digital grade geophones have been in
use through out are gradually being replaced by low distortion SM-24 type geophone which are more suited to
take maximum advantage of the 24-bit seismographs in
use. For VSP surveys with slim tools GEOLOCK-2S were
introduced and walk away and off set VSP surveys were
conducted successfully.
Conventional/optical topographic surveying techniques
are also being replaced by electronic surveying techniques

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/8

viz. GPS since 1996, which provided accurate positioning. Real time dual frequency DGPS systems, which offer
sub-meter accuracy in positioning and can do survey jobs
including staking, leveling and positioning are being introduced gradually in the seismic crews.
In the quest to find more hydrocarbons, unrelenting
efforts by introduction of cutting edge technology in time
started yielding rewarding results in the form of enhance
accretion of reserves, reduction of cost and early availability of exploration inputs. Acquisition of seismic data
in Bombay offshore through Ocean Bottom Cable (OBC)
with dual sensors in 1997 was the watershed in the use
of latest tools in ONGC. Seismic offshore MV Sagar
Sandhani has been. upgraded with latest 24 bit recording
system, dual streamers and dual sources.

the commissioning of the latest IIWSs, the era of manual

interpretation has almost come to an end. Interpretation
is now done on desktop workstations using state of the
art application software in an integrated environment. The
workstations for interactive interpretation have added new
dimensions to the exploratory efforts in ONGC. Integration of various geoscientific data has been made easier.
Enormous display capabilities made it possible to view
data in different forms instantly, thus enabling faster and
informed decision-making. The increased volume of the
2D and 3D seismic data over different prospects are being
interpreted efficiently. Making use of various software,
reservoir characterization is In early 1990s, interpretation

During late nineties, processing witnessed phenomenal

growth. Mainframe monolith scalar computers that were
in use up to middle nineties have been replace by latest
client server computing and parallel processing architecture. These systems perform massive parallel computing
with multiple CPUs facilitating quick through put and
provide vital visualization for interactive processing. This
allows optimization of the system by distributing processes
across the network. Advent of such system made it possible to process large and complex 3D data sets at a lower
cost in such shorter time. Turn around time of processing
has fallen from a year to couple of months. Additional benefits have been observed in reprocessing of the earlier 3D
data without waiting for longer period. Such systems are
IBM SP-3 having 6 nodes at Baroda, 4 nodes at Jorhat
8 nodes at Chennai and 16 nodes at Mumbai. This hardware is equipped with GEOVECTEUR application software from CGG except at Mumbai, which has PGS Tensor
application software. The software is capable of processing the data in pre-stacked and depth domain. However,
the present requirement of advanced processing can be met
with only if the numbers of nodes are increased to hundreds. Similarly GEOPIC is equipped with SGI Origin2000 server with 20 nodes having Paradigm application
software for processing. This system is also capable of
processing seismic data in pre-stacked and depth domain.
IRS Ahmedabad, KDMIPE Dehradun, and RCC, Calcutta
are equipped with Sun workstation with PROMAX application software. They are single node machines.

of the most of the data was done manually on paper section and time structure maps were also prepared manually. However, some of the maps were generated by the
computer aid. The color plots of various attributes generated with the help of computers were also used for analysis
of the sub surface in conjunction with the time structure
maps. As a matter of fact, the valuable data were underutilized and lot of hidden information remained invisible.

For retrieval of valuable data on old magnetic media or

on hard copies, the data archival systems were introduced
during 1996. These systems transcribe into high-density
media viz. DLT, 3490, 3590 etc. and could also convert
paper sections into digital form for further use on workstations or processing. Such archival systems are available
at Mumbai, Jorhat, Chennai, Calcutta and GEOPIC Dehradun. GEOPIC also has robotic tape library for handling
huge data media.

1995 witnessed a major change in the interpretation technology. Almost all the work centers were equipped with
the powerful desktop Sun workstations using state of the
art application software from Landmark. Gradually, to
meet the requirement of the data analysis and volume of
the data to be interpreted, subsequently new workstations
from Silicon graphics with CGG software, Sun-Workstations with Geoquest application software were procured
by different regions. With done to provide insight into

SGIS ORIGIN 2000

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/9

the earth sub surface. These results are being used for identification of suitable locale for drilling and development of
the field. Some of the work centers have gone a step ahead
to model their reservoir in 3-dimensions and perform simulations. To provide online access to the various E&P data,
EPINET project has been in advanced stage of implementation.
ONGC has been moving along the technology accelerations keeping pace with the technological changes in the
global market. However, the advanced technologies viz.
Tomography, geo-steering, multi-component 3D, 4D, VSP,
AVO etc. have not yet found inroads in the industry. Many
oil companies across the world have been benefited largely
due to 4D seismic in terms of adding more reserves to
the existing assets by locating by-passed oil and monitoring EOR projects. ONGC is yet to. appreciate the growing
importance of 4D seismic studies. Multi component seismic has been proven the most powerful tool to understand
rock and fluid properties in the sub surface. ONGC has to
quickly adapt to the new order to reap the advantages

of the cutting edge technology.

The last quarter of the 20th century has witnessed a
great industrial revolution in the form of Information Technology. IT has changed the way we do business and has
touched almost all the aspect of our life. It has been a
powerful enabling factor in the growth of seismic industry. Up coming technological developments in the seismic
e.g. Q-system by Schlumberger, AI and expert systems for
data analysis, virtual reality, elastic model of the earth, full
wave form inversion etc. are going to provide improved
and faster decision making in the field of exploration. The
pursuit is demanding and its course is uncertain but for the
organization with vision and flexibility to reach for it, the
prize to be obtained will be a great reward.

References
Fifty Years of Geophysical Ideas, By W. Harry Mayne, SEG Publication Reflections in life Time Achievements, EAGE Publication
ONGC reports

GEOHORIZONS January 2002/10