Geophysical methods have been and will still be a crucial tool for for hydrocarbon exploration and production offshore Norway. We propose to develop new geophysical methods aiming for reducing the risk in exploration as well as increased oil recovery. Within seismic imaging we will focus on effective 3D seismic modeling, further development and testing of full waveform inversion methods. We expect that the success of full waveform inversion depends on the acquisition geometry. Therefore, we propose to test the sensitivity of this technique for various acquisition geometries. We know that the earth is anisotropic, and methods for estimation of various seismic anisotropic parameters will therefore be developed and tested. We propose to further develop the time lapse seismic method into a more quantitative approach.

The future within 4D seismic will probably be a combination of permanent receiver systems, semi-permanent receivers or exploiting the new broadband streamer technology. We will develop methods that exploit this richness in data, and especially test if 4D refraction methods can be used to monitor overburden changes. Another area for further research is to explore why the contribution from converted waves is limited, and suggest methods to improve the use of such data both in exploration and in a 4D seismic setting. There is a close link between time lapse geophysical methods and geomechanics and rock physics, which will be explored. Both measurements and combined seismic-geomechanical modeling are crucial areas for research. The preferred marine seismic source is the air gun, and there has been only minor developments during the past decades.

Environmental issues related to the use of air guns will be in focus, as well as new concepts for development of a seismic low frequency (1-5 Hz) source. We have established international cooperation with 5 international universities, closely linked to these research topics.