(Houston, Texas) – August 12, 2013
Z-Terra, a rapidly growing provider of software and services solutions to the upstream oil and gas industry, announced today the filing of a patent application in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for “Specularity Gathers for Diffraction Imaging.” Z-Terra’s software helps oil and gas companies visualize 3-D Earth structures and reduces the drilling risk associated with oil and gas exploration from ever more challenging plays.
“We are pleased that our development efforts have culminated in the filing of this patent application, which will substantially extend the coverage of Z-Terra’s intellectual property estate,” said Alexander Mihai Popovici, Z-Terra’s CEO and Chairman.
“Z-Terra continues to develop novel intellectual property in the area of seismic imaging technology that is able to reduce exploration and production risks and increase recovery for conventional reservoirs as well as unconventional resources such as shale gas. Diffraction Imaging is designed to enhance the definition and resolution of oil reservoirs, and in particular the imaging of small scale fractures in shale reservoirs. High-resolution imaging of the small scale fractures in shale reservoirs like the Eagle Ford, Bakken, Utica and Woodbine in the US, and the Horn River, Montney and Utica in Canada improves the prospect characterization and pre-drill assessment of geologic conditions, improves production and recovery efficiency, reduces field development cost and decreases the environmental impact of developing the field by using fewer wells to optimally produce the reservoir. The main idea behind the patent application was conceived by Z-Terra’s Senior Scientific Developer, Ioan Sturzu.”
“The separate imaging of subsurface diffractors is a key ingredient in the development of high-resolution imaging technologies,” Sturzu said. “Specularity gathers allow us to differentiate between a specular reflection and a diffraction. Diffraction imaging, used as a complement to the structural images produced by reflection imaging, is a new super-resolution approach which allows us to image small scale faults, pinch-outs, salt flanks, reflector unconformities and in general any small scattering objects.”