Ping Hu Field, discovered in 1982 in the East China Sea, 365 km offshore China, consists of two structural closures on a complex, faulted anticline. Chinese authorities have planned for the field to provide natural gas to Shanghai in the 21st century. Five wells have been drilled, and more than 2400 km of 2-D and 118 km² of 3-D seismic data have been interpreted. Both structures were identified by 2-D data and drilled prior to acquisition of the 3-D seismic data.

Interpretation included mapping key reservoirs and fault analysis. Reservoir composition, distribution, and lateral variations were described. These variations were determined by studying geophysical attributes of the data, which included instantaneous amplitude, frequency, phase, and acoustic impedance. Seismic data were inverted to acoustic impedance (density and velocity) and transformed into reservoir parameters. Crossplot regression analyses of petrophysical parameters were performed, and relationships between pairs of values of porosity, acoustic impedance, permeability, and water saturation were derived.

An integrated geological-geophysical- reservoir engineering evaluation was required for accurate hydrocarbons-in-place calculations. The interpretation was utilized for field development planning, but implementation has been delayed due to distance from shore relative to field size.