Biography
Hugh Geiger is a consulting geophysicist specializing in seismic imaging and quantitative interpretation. He obtained his BSc and MSc in Engineering Geology from Queen’s, and PhD in Geophysics from UofC, where he transitioned from crustal imaging with Lithoprobe to research in time and depth algorithms with CREWES and POTSI. While at UofC, Hugh received both the PhD Teaching and PhD Research awards, 5 best paper/poster awards with the SEG, CSEG and CGU and was the MITACs postdoc in Inversion. He then spent a year in Pau France with Total developing advanced seismic depth imaging algorithms before returning to Calgary to work for Talisman Energy.
As Senior Explorationist Geophysics with the Global Exploration Specialist Team at Talisman, Hugh was responsible for seismic acquisition design, processing QC, depth imaging and potential fields methods in Peru, Columbia, Kurdistan, Papua New Guinea, as well as conventional and unconventional projects in North America. He then joined Sproule International as Senior Geophysical Specialist, where he worked on integrated interpretation for reserve and resource estimation in the WCSB, East Coast Canada, US, North Sea, Kenya, Madagascar, Cabinda, and Australia.
Description
This course is designed for the intermediate geoscientist with a strong background in geophysics who requires a better understanding of quantitative seismic methods and how they can be used to predict rock properties away from the well, calibrated by well logs. The primary objective is to present a framework for understanding quantitative seismic interpretation as a set of simple models and workflows.
We work in a world where specialized knowledge and skills are required to function within multidisciplinary teams. The job requirements for a professional geophysicist are now heavily weighted towards quantitative analysis incorporating all available geophysical, petrophysical and geological data, integrated with engineering, economics and risking. A question often posed by engineers and managers is “What is the uncertainty?”, which implies that the results of our efforts must be expressed quantitatively. Yet initially, much of the value in our data is determined in a relative sense, as patterns in images, or as clusters in a data space, where the images and ‘data’ are the result of extensive processing and manipulation – far different from the original form of the raw data when acquired. The conventional path to ‘expert’ knowledge in geophysics was to gain a mastery of the various methods of data processing and manipulation. Although this knowledge is still valuable, the requirement that we use all the available data intelligently to support business decisions demands a different approach – starting from a geophysical and petrophysical understanding of the rocks and fluids in the subsurface.
Hence it is extremely useful (and necessary), both as a foundation for our own knowledge and to communicate effectively with teammates and managers, that we understand simple models of how the rocks are connected through physics to the geophysical and petrophysical data, and to engineering parameters. At the conclusion of the course, the student will have a solid framework of simple models and useful workflows that provide a practical understanding of quantitative methods in seismic interpretation.
