Patent ID: 11971513
Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  E | IPC E  G

Claim 0:
1. A method, comprising:
obtaining, using a seismic acquisition system, an observed seismic dataset pertaining to a subterranean region of interest, wherein the seismic acquisition system comprises a seismic source and a plurality of seismic receivers;
using a seismic data processor:
obtaining a seismic velocity model for the subterranean region of interest,
determining a simulated seismic dataset based, at least in part, on the seismic velocity model and on a source and receiver geometry of the observed seismic dataset,
forming a plurality of time-windowed trace pairs, wherein a first member of each pair is drawn from the simulated seismic dataset and a second member of each pair is drawn from the observed seismic dataset,
forming an objective function based, at least in part, on a penalty function and a cross-correlation between the first member and the second member of each of the plurality of time-windowed trace pairs,
finding an extremum of the objective function,
determining a seismic velocity increment based, at least in part, on the extremum,
forming an updated seismic velocity model by combining the seismic velocity increment and the seismic velocity model,
forming a seismic image of the subterranean region of interest based, at least in part, on the updated seismic velocity model, and
identifying a drilling target based, at least in part, on the seismic image of the subterranean region of interest, wherein the drilling target comprises a portion of the subterranean region of interest with a likelihood of containing oil and gas;

determining a well path through the subterranean region of interest based, at least in part, on the drilling target; and
drilling, using a drilling system, a well guided by the well path.