Paper Summary

Wide azimuth (WAZ) has been established as an indispensable seismic acquisition and processing methodology for exploration and development objectives. This is especially relevant in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). In comparison to a narrow azimuth (NAZ) survey, WAZ provides better subsurface illumination and fold coverage. Tilted Transverse Isotropic (TTI) model building has become a standard approach for processing WAZ data in the GoM. Because TTI accounts for polar anisotropy caused by bedding and stratification, in general it improves image focusing in pre-stack depth imaging and provides flatter common image gathers (CIGs) for WAZ data.