Shearwater Geo forms subsurface FWI venture with Mondaic

Offshore staff

BERGEN, Norway — Shearwater Geoservices and Zurich-based Mondaic, a specialist in software and services for high-resolution 3D imaging, have formed a collaboration.

The companies plan to develop and apply full waveform inversion (FWI) solutions to improve high-resolution subsurface imaging and optimize seismic acquisition surveys.  

Under the arrangement, Shearwater has exclusive and perpetual rights for the use of and further development for subsurface applications of Mondaic’s wavefield simulation and inversion codes. In addition, the company has taken an equity stake in Mondaic.

FWI is a seismic data processing technique designed to support visualization of subsurface structures, reservoir understanding, and planning/execution of more efficient surveys.

It can be deployed to estimate high-resolution subsurface property models in areas of complex geology with limited human user intervention, Shearwater said, and it will likely also feature in the characterization and monitoring of subsurface carbon storage sites and in site surveys for wind farms.

Mondaic plans to progress application of the jointly developed codes for ultrasonic non-destructive testing, material characterization and other non-subsurface applications.

Shearwater’s acoustic finite differences FWI will gradually be replaced by Mondaic’s elastic spectral elements code, said to model subsurface wavefield and waveforms to high levels of precision.

“Due to its unlimited modeling capabilities, this technology offers a higher level of inversion precision than conventional approaches,” said Sergio Grion, Shearwater's chief geophysicist – Processing Technology. “It is not only computationally efficient but also scalable, catering to a wide range of needs and complexities.”

Mondaic is a spin-off company of ETH Zurich.

04.17.2024