January, 2013 - Permian Basin Geophysical Society

NEWSLETTER OF THE
PERMIAN BASIN
GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY
JANUARY 2013
PBGS
PO Box 361, Midland TX 79702

January 2013 Newsletter
PBGS, P. O . BOX 361, MIDLA ND, TX 79702
LETTER FROM THE BOARD
Andy Bell - President Over the Cliff and Beyond
I hope that all PBGS members successfully navigated their tortuous
paths through the Holidays – from mall parking lots, through thirdhelpings
of turkey&dressing AND pumpkin-pie, mixed in with a little
good football somewhere (obviously NOT in Jerry Jones’ presence!) –
and managed to cherish some quality R&R-time with family and friends.
And I’m proud to confirm that I successfully avoided Midland’s mall for
the entire 2012-year – probably much to the chagrin of my family.
But the Jan-1st news out of Washington, D.C. prompts this letter’s theme
– accountability. As another round of ‘kick-the-can’ (really loved that
game as a kid!) gets played by this bunch of ‘non-accountable’ politicos,
it has stirred up some memories. As I investigated career opportunities
back in the ‘70s, the geophysics discipline stood out prominently as
being on the ‘leading edge’ of advancing technological applications in
both exploration and development of oil and gas as well as minerals.
Experts suggested that those that were proficiently schooled and skilled
in geophysical applications would be highly sought by entities large and
small (Hmm – big bucks, get to stay in the Rockies & ski my buns off!
Sounds OK!); they would be part of an expanding and critically important
sector in the O&G industry (Oh yeah - wide scope of
opportunities along with the bucks, maybe helicopter-skiing in the
Bugaboos! Sounding GOOD!); they would be responsible for significant
investments of money and time (No prob – can handle that; maybe a
condo in Vail as well! Sounds fabuloso!); AND they would ultimately be
held accountable for a project’s success/failure (GULP! After 2 dryholes,
you’re a goner!).

January 2013 Newsletter
Page 3
Fortunately this last comment was a little ‘far-reaching’ by those experts. However, after my
‘limited’ years of experience, I can say WE, the geophysical discipline, continue to serve as
the ‘front-line’ in the investigation and analyses of the subsurface for the O&G industry,
performing our work in scientifically responsible and economically and ethically accountable
efforts. And we take appropriate pride in our industry as the critical first-link in the chain of
accountability in technological applications and scientific analyses.
Yet – we may often overreach our own personal accountability in performing our ‘best
efforts possible’ while vigorously pursuing worthy challenges, and that’s where the PBGS
provides significant resources: our monthly luncheons, May Exploration Meeting and
symposiums for state-of-the-art insights by experts; SEG-produced Honorary Lecturers and
Distinguished Instructor Short-Courses for illuminating theories/ideas and their transition to
practical applications; and of course, our annual Fall classic of hard-core, intensive field
testing (simple harmonic vs. chaotic impulsive source points; multiple random vs. utopian
single source point; etc.) – yes, the Doodlebug is truly one of my most ‘enlightening’ events of
the whole year! But one more PBGS resource that deserves critical notice: its members and
their ‘esprit de corps’. So the next time a certain surge of uncertainty rings that ‘red bell’, sit
back – think – and contact one of your fellow PBGS-ers with an insightful question/inquiry.
Utilize ALL your resources!
And – finally -- “When you’ve got something to prove, there’s nothing greater than a
challenge.” (That Great Philosopher of Pittsburgh, PA (from the ‘70s again) one
“T.Bradshaw”) Now let’s go find some oil! Andy

January 2013 Newsletter
January Luncheon Talk– Midland Center,
Wednesday 1/9/13 11:30 am
Exploration and Production of Shale Plays -
What is needed from seismic data, and what are we doing about it
By: Mark S. Egan
What is needed from seismic data What is needed from seismic data
In unconventional plays the desired contributions from seismic data are accurate depth images, high
-resolution seismic velocities, and calibrated pre-stack inversion products. The inversion products
are especially important in workflows that integrate the seismic with well logs, core data, and other
measurements. The purpose of that integration is for the improvement in characterizing Reservoir
Quality (RQ) and Completions Quality (CQ) of the target shales.
Hurdles that must be addressed in the seismic contribution include suppressing noise, comprehending
anisotropy, and resolving heterogeneity. Included in that resolution challenge is, of course, the
need to address scale differences between the seismic data and the log / core information.
(Interestingly, there are opportunities that can be exploited because of the scale differences too).
So what is being done to raise the level of seismic data quality
Quite a few advances have come into use in recent years for the benefit of exploration and production
of shale plays. Such advances cross the entire spectrum of the seismic method - ranging from
survey design through acquisition, processing, and inversion.
Examples include point source and point receiver acquisition (for attacking noise and improving resolution),
broadband recording (especially of low frequencies for seismic inversion and other applications),
surface wave inversion (for better near-surface Earth model building in PSDM processing),
coordinate-driven noise suppression (rather than FK FFT-driven approaches), 3D and 5D interpolation
algorithms for use in OVT processing, anisotropy-comprehending AVO inversion, and so forth.
Examples of these new seismic enablers will be presented.

January 2013 Newsletter
Page 5
Speaker Bios:
Mark S. Egan
Mark Egan has worked for WesternGeco
and its heritage companies since 1975.
Located in Houston, he is currently the
worldwide Chief Area Geophysicist in
the GeoSoluons product line that
spans across the WesternGeco and
PetroTechnical Services segments in
Schlumberger. Addionally he is part of
GeoSoluons’ Unconvenonals Seismic
Soluons team. Previous assignments
with the company included chief
geophysicist posions in Saudi Arabia,
Dubai, and Gatwick, England.
Mark Egan holds a Ph.D. in Geophysics,
an MS in Acoustics and a BS in Physics.
He is a member of the SEG, EAGE and
SPE.

January 2013 Newsletter
Page 6
Calendar
February
Monday - 11th
Topic: Seismic Interferometry and Beyond:
Harvesting signal from coherent noise
-Gerald T. Schuster, 2013 Distinguished Lecturer
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudia
Arabia, (Location; Midland Center)
March
Wednesday - 20th
Topic: TBA
Speaker: Morgan Brown, Wave Imaging Technology
Midland Center
April
Luncheon - 10th
Topic: TBA
Speaker: Dan Hollis, NodalSeismic
Midland Center

January 2013 Newsletter
Page 7
2012-2013 ADVERTISING AGREEMENT
PERMIAN BASIN GEOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER
Please check the applicable items on this form and return it with your ad copy.
We authorize advertising in the PBGS Monthly newsletter and website as indicated below:
Size of Advertisement
Full Year (10 insertions)
X Business Card Ad $150.00
Other: All business card ads will be listed on the PBGS website and rotated to appear on the home page.
Please check one:
New Advertiser
Renewal, please continue previous ad
Renewal, new copy enclosed
Terms: (Pre-payment is required for new advertisers)
Payment enclosed
Renewal, please invoice
Note: The first issue of the year is in September. To insure that your card appears in all issues please submit
your ad order by the end of September. Cards received after September will be published beginning in the
next month’s edition of the newsletter. Checks should be made payable to the PBGS. Please return this
form with your business card and payment (if required at this time) to:
Permian Basin Geophysical Society
P.O. Box 361
Midland, Texas 79702
Authorization for advertising in the PBGS Newsletter
Company:
Contact:
Billing Address:
City, State, Zip:
Authorized by:
Title:
Signature:
Date:
Email:
Phone:

January 2013 Newsletter
PBGS OFFICERS 2012-2013
PRESIDENT
Andy Bell
432-684-7767
adbellxplr@aol.com
PRESIDENT-ELECT
Brad Jones
432-682-3753
bjones@btaoil.com
VICE-PRESIDENT
Terry Knighton
432-686-3655
terry_knighton@eogresources.com
TREASURER
David Liebmann
432-687-7344
david.liebmann@chevron.com
SECRETARY
Brandon Tobias
432-684-3097
btobias@dawson3d.com
PAST PRESIDENT
Jeff Shultz
432-686-2821
jmshultz74@yahoo.com
PBGS Committee Chairs
SEG LIAISON
Jeff Shultz
432-686-2821
jmshultz74@yahoo.com
PBGS Party at the Ballpark
Chairman
Lee Miller
(432) 685-1094
eginc.lee@gmail.com
Doodlebug Golf Chairman
Jason Stockstill
(432) 684-3074
stockstill@dawson3d.com
Membership Chairman
Laurie Lindsey
(432) 682-3685
pbgs@pinnecleseismic.com
DISC Chairman
Terry Knighton
432-686-3655
terry_knighton@eogresources.com
Fall Technical Seminar Chairman
Glenn Winters
432-818-0955
glennw@forl.com
Website Communication
Martha George
432-571-4707
mgeorge@slb.com
Page 8

January 2013 Newsletter
PBGS, P. O. Box 361, Midland, TX 79702
The PBGS was formed to promote the science
of geophysics in the Permian Basin community.
The PBGS generally meets the second Wednesday
of the month, September through April, at
11:30 am at the Midland Center in downtown
Midland, Texas. All interested persons are encouraged
to attend.
Visit http://pbgs.seg.org/ to
download speaker
abstracts & presentations