First Published: AAPG Explorer - October 2025, by Igor Marino, John Brittan, Andrey Bogachev and Clay Westbrook, TGS
Abstract
The Gulf of Mexico (America) has long been one of the most prolific petroleum provinces in the world and key to the U.S. energy supply, accounting for more than fifteen percent of domestic oil production. The basin’s western deepwater provinces are dominated by thick, laterally extensive salt canopies and elaborate subsalt structures, remaining among the most technically demanding exploration environments. Geoscientists have long recognized the opportunity beneath these salt domains, yet traditional wide-azimuth towed streamer seismic surveys and conventional imaging methods have struggled to resolve the deep salt geometries and
subsalt stratigraphy, limiting confident prospect evaluation.
Amendment 1 & 2 (in partnership with SLB): Legacy WAZ streamer RTM and Velocity (top) compared to
E-DMFWI FDR and Velocity (bottom)
Over the last decade, however, advances in seismic acquisition design, along with novel source
technology and velocity model building workflows, have begun to change this perspective. Recent seismic surveys in the Gulf demonstrate how a coordinated methodology that integrates long-offset ocean-bottom nodes acquisition, enhanced frequency sources and elastic full-waveform inversion can address longstanding subsurface challenges. Together, these technologies are reshaping the way geoscientists interpret complex salt domains and, ultimately, how companies allocate exploration capital in the region.
Read the full article here.