4D SEISMIC IN RUSSIA: EXPERIENCE, PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

4D seismic is a series of time laps 3D seismic surveys employed during development of oil and gas fields. Its goal is to register changes in seismic wavefield within target interval caused by hydrocarbon extraction, which allows for optimization of field development plan (i.e. optimizing reservoir drainage, oil well placement, reducing reservoir development uncertainty, etc.). This article provides the first comprehensive analysis of the current state of 4D seismic in Russia, where, unfortunately, there are only a few cases of utilization of this technology, while global experience already includes hundreds of successful examples. Various options for its implementation for deep-sea (offshore) and onshore hydrocarbon exploration and production are considered. However, not numerous, practically all known cases of 4D seismic survey acquisition over Russian hydrocarbon fields are analyzed, and future prospects of this technology in Russia are assessed.