Elastic MP-FWI Imaging for Vp, P-Impedance and Vs/Vp using OBN Data Offshore West Africa

Summary The goal of using full-waveform inversion (FWI) to directly invert for rock properties has been a long-standing objective since the concept of FWI was first proposed. In recent years, this goal has approached fruition with the advent of elastic multi-parameter FWI (MP-FWI) imaging, which has the capability of inverting simultaneously for Vp, P-impedance and Vs/Vp. We use an ocean-bottom node (OBN) dataset in deep water offshore West Africa as a case study to demonstrate the use of elastic MP-FWI imaging to invert directly for Vp, P-impedance and Vs/Vp directly from minimally processed field data, without the need for the generation of reflectivity angle stacks or pre-stack image gathers for use in a secondary AVA inversion.