CO M M O N

REFLECTION ANGLE
M I G R AT I O N
BETTER IMAGING
Common
Reflection Angle
Migration
PetroTrace Diffraction Imaging

«There is only one way to see things, until someone shows us how to look at
them with different eyes»
P. Picasso

Present-day E&P is steering increasingly more

towards new and non-conventional targets, such as Pivotal advantages of CRAM over the
fractured media (basement, carbonates), stratigraphic conventional Kirchhoff migration:
traps (like pinch-outs, injectites), complex structures, • optimal subsurface illumination for any
or a combination of all the mentioned. In such acquisition geometry
settings, standard imaging algorithms may not produce
adequate seismic images to effectively de-risk the • image enhancement (e.g. specularity
reservoir geometry and properties. While the ongoing filtering, beam slant-stacking)
refinement of wave-equation migration and inversion • amplitude/phase preservation and accurate
has not yet provided the correct and ultimately- application of angle Q-compensation
univocal imaging answer – due to uncertainties in the • enhanced Wide Azimuth (WAZ) data analysis
equation choice, model description, and input data
quality, Common Reflection-Angle Kirchhoff Migration • no a priori need for global data regularisation
(acronym: CRAM) is an efficient and practical tool to and interpolation
tackle complex geological objectives and input data. • reflection-diffraction separation for Diffraction
Imaging
Key feature of CRAM is a “bottom-to-top” ray-
tracing operator which traces rays from every image
point towards the acquisition surface – unlike other
conventional Kirchhoff migrations. In CRAM, both
angles and azimuths are measured at the depth imaging
points and thus are true subsurface attributes.
Illumination. Through the bottom-to-
top ray shooting, performed with regular and
dense increments of the emergence angles and
azimuths, CRAM allows the optimal illumination
of the subsurface image points, for all dips and
orientations, and for any given acquisition geometry.
CRAM’s improved illumination hence leads to
accurate Common Image Gathers, guaranteeing
that all possible arrivals are considered (including
turning waves). Moreover, by tracing rays from
the subsurface, it is possible to efficiently apply
propagation weighting factors and a specularity filter
accounting only for those ray pairs respecting Snell’s
Law, locally at each image point.
Amplitude/Phase Preservation. During CRAM,
Schematic bottom-top ray tracing used for computing CIG
kinematic and dynamic characteristics of the seismic in local angle domain
events are accurately computed along the rays,

Comparison of KPSDM (left) with CRAM (right); raw seismic images obtained
with the same velocity model, pre-migration input, and no post-migration
processing. CRAM allows an improved subsurface illumination and seismic
imaging, also with steep dips and strong velocity contrasts
ensuring that amplitude and phase of the migrated
angle-dependent reflectivities are preserved.
To further enhance the signal quality, an angle
Q-compensation (both phase and amplitude) can
be efficiently applied during the migration itself,
rather than post-migration.
Improved Imaging. CRAM is naturally a beam
migration, where the beamforming is done on-the-
fly within migration. A local slant stack operation
is performed for each computed central ray with
a radius related to the Fresnel zone at its surface-
emerging location. This procedure enhances
primary events while attenuating multiples and
noise (random/coherent).
CRAM requires the interpolation of the input
data when the emerging rays do not reach exact
source-receiver locations. Such interpolation in
CRAM is performed locally, using neighbouring
traces, and on-the-fly within migration, hence
allowing amplitude preservation. The non-
necessity of a priori, pre-migration, global
regularisation and interpolation of the input data
additionally enables a more efficient Multi-Azimuth
(MAZ) imaging from pre-migration-merged Narrow
Azimuth (NAZ) surveys.
www.ptgeos.com
Comparison of KPSDM (left) with CRAM (right) on OBC data; raw
seismic images obtained with the same velocity model, pre-
migration input, and no post-migration processing. Bottom-up ray
tracing mitigates the impact of shallow velocity anomalies (e.g.
water bottom channels)
Bottom-up ray tracing mitigates the impact
on the final imaging of the improperly-positioned
shallow velocity anomalies: CRAM rays cross those
shallow anomalies at the end of their paths, as
opposed to the conventional Kirchhoff migration
with a top-down operator computation.
True Subsurface Azimuthal Information.
CRAM’s output-driven, bottom-up, ray tracing
approach furthermore generates and retains true
subsurface azimuthal information; this differs from
other Kirchhoff implementations where surface
acquisition azimuths are used. True subsurface
azimuths result in the creation of continuous WAZ
angle gathers, providing azimuth-illumination
diagnostics and a wide range of robust WAZ
processing tools. For these reasons, CRAM’s
application to complex areas such as deepwater
sub-salt, overthrusts, complex sedimentary
environments, or fractured reservoirs, opens a
new way for the imaging and interpretation of
seismic data.
CRAM, combining ray tracing and full-wave
features, represents an efficient and practical,
yet versatile, tool to image complex geological
objectives and/or input data.
PetroTrace London
Dukes Court,
Woking, Surrey
GU21 5BH
UK

t: +44 (0)1483 662 421

e: infouk@ptgeos.com

PetroTrace Moscow
Business Center “Svyatogor-IV”,
Letnikovskaya str. 10, bld. 4
115114, Moscow
Russia

t: +7 495 995 5230

f: +7 495 995 5232
e: inforu@ptgeos.com

www.ptgeos.com