Imaging of multiple reflections

Abstract

Current multiple-removal algorithms in seismic processing use either differential moveout or predictability. If the differential moveout between primaries and multiples is small, prediction is the only option available. In the last decade, multidimensional prediction-error filtering by weighted convolution, such as surface-related multiple elimination (SRME), have proved to be very successful in practice. So far, multiples have been considered as noise and have been discarded after the removal process. In this paper, we argue that multiple reflections contain a wealth of information that can be used in seismic processing to improve the resolution of reservoir images beyond current capability. In the near future, one may expect that the so-called weighted-crosscorrelation (WCC) concept may offer an attractive alternative in approaching the multiple problem. WCC creates an option to avoid the adaptive subtraction process as applied in prediction-error algorithms. Moreover, it allows the transformation of multiples into primaries. The latter means that seismic imaging with primaries and multiples (nonlinear process) can be implemented by a sequence of linear processes, including the transformation of multiples into primaries and the imaging of primaries.