# 12 - Side Swipe in 2-D Seismic Data and How 3-D is Better

Investing in Oil and Gas

Mike talks about the phenomenon of "side swipe" in old 2-D seismic data. Mike has located a 50-acre structure in 3-D seismic data that he recently shot. There are two dry holes near the 50-acre structure that did not penetrate the structure. But they were very close! Mike suspects that those two dry holes were drilled on 2-D seismic shot by a previous oil company on this same land 40 years ago - and that they detected the presence of the large structure but they missed it when they drilled those two wells because the technology of the day was 2-D seismic (not 3-D seismic). Mike describes a short-coming of 2-D seismic known as "side swipe" and talks about how we can now surpass that previous limitation of 2-D seismic using modern 3-D seismic - which does not suffer from side swipe. Furthermore, he found an old open hole wireline log from one of these previous nearby dry holes. Having this old log of a nearby dry hole - and the new log he will obtain when he drills the new well on top of the structure - will enable Mike to verify that the 3-D seismic structure map is correct - because the new well log should show the same target formation about 200 feet higher in the new well than it was in the old well! A great place to look for oil! www.investinginoilandgas.com