Velocity Model Building with Time-lag FWI: a Perdido Area Case Study

Abstract

Summary The Perdido area at the Mexican Gulf of Mexico (GOM) consists of complex geology settings, making it challenging to build accurate velocity models for subsalt imaging. Conventional technologies including manual salt interpretation have not been able to resolve the velocity in this area. While full-waveform inversion (FWI) has been successfully applied to update sedimentary overburdens, it has struggled to update salt until recently. In this case study, we show how we used time-lag FWI (TLFWI) to update the velocity, including salt velocity, using two available WAZ surveys in NS and EW directions. We also discuss the remaining challenges.