Andrey Bakulin

Andrey Bakulin

PhD	Geophysics
PhD university	St. Petersburg State University of Russia

Andrey Bakulin is a geophysicist at Saudi Aramco's EXPEC Advanced Research Center in Dhahran. He holds a PhD in Geophysics (1996) from St. Petersburg State University of Russia. Andrey had a brief academic career at St. Petersburg State University and the Colorado School of Mines. His industrial career followed and now includes tenures at Schlumberger Cambridge Research, Shell Bellaire Technology Center, and WesternGeco. Andrey was involved in the development of several technologies. He co-developed the virtual source method with Rodney Calvert which is the subject of this lecture. He contributed to practical methods of estimating anisotropy from seismic and well data, as well as designing rock physics transforms to characterize fractures and 3D stresses from seismic anisotropy. He developed a method and system to monitor well completions with tube waves. He has served SEG in various roles and has received a variety of professional awards, including Honorable Mention and best presentation at an SEG Annual Meeting (twice), Honorable mention Best Paper in Geophysics (twice), the J. Clarence Karcher Award, and a 2007 E&P Special Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation.

SEG Reginald Fessenden Award 2023

The Reginald Fessenden Award recognizes Andrey Bakulin, presently associated with Aramco and formerly affiliated with Shell and Schlumberger, for his exceptional contributions to seismic acquisition and imaging under complex near surface and overburden. Bakulin significantly advanced interferometry theory and pioneered several industrial applications of imaging and monitoring using virtual sources beneath challenging overburden. His innovations include developing techniques to enhance prestack seismic data affected by near-surface scattering and implementing efficient methods for data acquisition, near-surface calibration, and imaging using distributed acoustic sensing. He has also demonstrated a permanent industrial system with buried receivers for monitoring below complex and changing near-surface conditions. Bakulin’s contributions have been recognized by many awards, including serving as SEG’s Distinguished Lecturer (2011), the J. Clarence Karcher Award (2005), and several SEG Best Paper and Honorable Mention awards. The Reginald Fessenden Award acknowledges his ongoing contributions to the field and significant industry impact

Biography Citation for the Reginald Fessenden Award

by Boris Gurevich and Yi Luo

It is a privilege to write this citation for Andrey Bakulin, a recipient of the 2023 Reginald Fessenden Award. Andrey stands out with his exceptional ability to integrate solid theoretical knowledge with practical application to solve complex problems. Already, in the 1990s, he made a mark by making important contributions to theoretical rock physics. In 1999, he joined the petroleum industry, working at leading research centers such as Schlumberger Cambridge Research and Shell. Currently, he leads the data acquisition and robotization focus area at EXPEC Advanced Research Center of Saudi Aramco. Andrey’s tenure at the leading research centers in the industry has provided him with valuable opportunities to apply his theoretical knowledge and skills to a diverse array of geophysical challenges, yielding remarkable outcomes.

One of Andrey’s key contributions is the development of the virtual source method, a groundbreaking approach coinvented with Rodney Calvert. This method employs time-reversal focusing without needing a velocity model, transforming each downhole receiver into a virtual source and mitigating the impact of overburden. The sustained collective efforts of Andrey and colleagues during the 2000s significantly advanced velocity estimation, imaging, and monitoring in exploration geophysics. His exceptional achievements in this area have been widely recognized, including being selected as the SEG Distinguished Lecturer on this topic, receiving two SEG Best Paper awards, and earning numerous other industry accolades.

In the challenging context of desert seismic data acquisition, Andrey has played a pivotal role in enhancing and despeckling prestack land seismic data. Recognizing the role of scattering noise in processing data from small arrays and single sensors, he pioneered supergrouping, nonlinear beamforming, and despeckling techniques, pushing the boundaries of traditional digital group forming. By showcasing the importance of data enhancement in improving reflection processing, first-break picking, and full-waveform inversion, Andrey’s advancements have made a profound impact on oil and gas exploration, CO2 sequestration, and near-surface geophysics.

His contributions also extend to seismic acquisition, where he has introduced transformative innovations. By modernizing uphole acquisition through fiber-optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) recording and high-productivity dual rotary drilling, he revolutionized the efficiency and accuracy of near-surface velocity measurements. Additionally, Andrey pioneered a novel acquisition system known as smart DAS uphole acquisition, connecting multiple vertical DAS arrays using the same fiber. This groundbreaking method bridges the gap between surface seismic and borehole geophysics, offering significant benefits in exploration as well as oil-field and carbon capture, utilization, and storage monitoring in complex near-surface environments.

Andrey’s groundbreaking work in monitoring below complex near-surface environments has pushed the envelope of 4D seismic on land. Through extensive field pilots and industrial showcases, he has illuminated the advantages of utilizing shallow buried receivers for sensitive reservoir monitoring. These buried receivers mitigate near-surface variations that obscure small 4D signals while minimizing contamination from ground-roll and near-surface arrivals. His leadership in implementing a hybrid permanent seismic monitoring system with buried sensors and surface vibrators at Aramco’s CO2 enhanced oil recovery project site has showcased exceptional repeatability and monitoring capabilities in complex near-surface environments.

Through his innovative approaches, Andrey has made a profound and enduring impact on seismic acquisition and processing, serving as a catalyst for ongoing advancements in the industry. His contributions have not only revolutionized the way seismic data are acquired and processed, but have also had a transformative effect on the broader field of geophysics. By pushing the boundaries of knowledge, Andrey has paved the way for further breakthroughs, shaping the future of exploration geophysics and inspiring the next generation of researchers and practitioners

2011 SEG Distinguished Lecturer

Virtual source method for imaging and monitoring below complex overburden

Increasing overburden complexity can eventually destroy any type of surface imaging. While it may become intractable to unravel complex wave propagation in processing, it is always possible to capture it with measurement. The virtual source method uses surface shots with downhole receivers placed below the most complex part of the troublesome overburden. The method uses time-reversal logic to create a new downward-continued data set with virtual sources (VSs) at the geophone locations. Since redatuming is driven purely by measurements, it requires no knowledge of the velocity model between shots and receivers. Thus it enables imaging below extremely complex realistic overburden — in fact, the more complex the better. While the price to pay is high – placing geophones in the subsurface, so is the prize – seeing the unseen. Virtual sources are manufactured to our specifications so they can radiate only in the direction we need which proved extremely useful for analysis of VSPs in salt basins. Virtual sources can excite longitudinal waves with no associated shear, or vice versa, thus enabling accurate virtual P- and S-wave check shots below complex salt bodies. Virtual sources are also reproducible for 4D even if the near-surface changes or the shooting geometry is altered slightly. This leads to a variety of applications in permanent monitoring in land and marine where repeatable surveys can be achieved by only burying the receivers.

This lecture will outline the physical concepts involved, emphasize important processing steps, and highlight industrial applications of the virtual source method to imaging and monitoring below complex overburden. We envision good reasons for every smart oil field to have a bunch of virtual sources and speculate where this technology will play a role. On a science front, the virtual source method stimulated creation of the new evolving field of seismic interferometry. Advances happen rapidly and new oil field applications are on their way!

Additional Resources

A recording of the lecture is available in English and in Russian.

Honorable Mention (Geophysics) 2008

Andrey Bakulin, Alexander Sidorov, Boris Kashtan, and Mikko Jaaskelainen received 2008 Honorable Mention (Geophysics) for their paper Real-time completion monitoring with acoustic waves.

Honorable Mention (Geophysics) 2006

Andrey Bakulin and Rodney W. Calvert received 2006 Honorable Mention (Geophysics) for their paper The virtual source method: Theory and case study.

J. Clarence Karcher Award 2005

The Karcher Award is being given to Andrey Bakulin in recognition of his contributions in the areas of imaging scattering series, time-lapse seismic monitoring, inversion and processing for anisotropic media, rock physics, and fracture characterization. Andrey has worked extensively with models of anisotropic, porous rocks and methodology for seismic fracture characterization using realistic, azimuthally anisotropic reservoir models. Later work was on inversion of multicomponent reflection data and multi-azimuth walkaway VSP surveys. In addition, Andrey created a tool to predict 4D (time-lapse) seismic response of a reservoir using realistic fluid-flow models and seismic transformations. Most recently, he has worked on virtual source imaging and its application to time-lapse VSP data.

Biography Citation for the J. Clarence Karcher Award 2005

Contributed by Ilya Tsvankin

Andrey Bakulin immediately made a strong impression on me when we first met in 1996 at the 7th International Workshop on Seismic Anisotropy in Miami. Although it was his first major scientific conference in the west, Andrey delivered a lucid presentation in almost flawless English on the intricate topic of anisotropic poroelasticity. What was most impressive about him, however, was the ease and confidence with which he conveyed his ideas and exchanged opinions with a group of top scientists from all over the world. It was clear that Andrey would soon become a key member of the applied geophysics community, and that expectation is now confirmed by his selection for this award.

The award recognizes Andrey’s contributions in such diverse areas as time-lapse seismic monitoring, seismic inversion and processing for anisotropic media, rock physics, fracture characterization, and virtual-source imaging. Most of us tend to have a relatively narrow focus at the initial stage of our careers, so this breadth of research interests is truly uncommon. What is even more uncommon for such a young scientist is Andrey’s extensive publication record that already includes two books and 15 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Andrey grew up in the northern Russian town of Apatity, where his father, Victor Bakulin, worked as a geoscientist. The spectacular geology of this remote region provided the first motivation for Andrey to study earth sciences. Also, his career choice was greatly influenced by his father, a prominent rock physicist, who instilled in Andrey the desire to explore practically important geophysical problems.

As a student at St. Petersburg State University, Andrey began working with Professor Lev Molotkov on effective models of anisotropic, porous rocks. His PhD thesis was eventually published as a book that discusses the anisotropy of fractured and poroelastic media, estimation of fracture parameters from lab measurements, and modeling of pointsource radiation in poroelastic Biot media. Andrey continued this research as a faculty member at St. Petersburg University and then as a visiting scientist at Colorado School of Mines (CSM). Andrey’s collaboration with the Anisotropy Team at CSM resulted in a series of papers in GEOPHYSICS that introduced a methodology for seismic fracture characterization based on realistic, azimuthally anisotropic reservoir models.

In 1999 Andrey joined the reservoir characterization and monitoring team at Schlumberger Cambridge Research, where he focused primarily on the inversion and processing of multicomponent reflection data and multiazimuth walkaway VSP surveys. Another intriguing research direction pursued by Andrey was the influence of nonhydrostatic subsurface stress on Thomsen’s anisotropy parameters. With Schlumberger colleague Romain Prioul, he proved the validity of the nonlinear elasticity theory for describing seismic velocities in stressed rock. This work allowed Andrey to develop and patent a method for estimating the principal stresses from reflection seismic data. While at Schlumberger, Andrey also created one of the first industry tools to predict the 4D (timelapse) seismic response of a reservoir using a realistic fluidflow model and rock-physics transformations. Predictions made by this tool for time-lapse seismic data acquired at Foinaven Field in the North Sea came strikingly close to the observed anomalies and helped to refine the fluid-flow model.

After moving to Shell’s Bellaire Technology Center in 2001, Andrey began applying the principle of time reversal in seismic imaging. In cooperation with Rodney Calvert, he devised and successfully tested on time-lapse VSP data the innovative “virtual source method” for imaging and monitoring below a complex overburden. Another promising project involves interpretation of temporal variations in anisotropy due to nonhydrostatic changes of the overburden stress field during reservoir depletion.

Andrey represents a rare type of theoretically strong geophysicist who enjoys all aspects of exploring the subsurface: development of new physical theories and concepts, numerical modeling, design of processing algorithms, and application to field data. He has been able to multiply his personal strengths by actively cooperating with a number of research groups from academia and national laboratories. Andrey has a truly collaborative style of research and is always willing to share his ideas with colleagues and, particularly, with graduate students.

It has been a pleasure to follow Andrey’s research, witness his rapid professional growth, and work with him on a number of projects. There is no doubt that the Karcher Award is just one step on his way to many more achievements in the future.

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