Shri Niranjan Chandra Nanda graduated in Geophysics from Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India in 1959. Soon after he joined the Oil & Natural Gas Commission, the national oil company of India, and worked there till his retirement in 1996.
His involvement as a freelance Petroleum Geophysicist in the hydrocarbon upstream industry continues to date, building on more than five six decades of varied experience in diversified geological basins, both in India and abroad. He is a consultant to several E&P companies in India, conducts training courses, and organizes workshops in seismic interpretation for geoscientists of E&P companies. Earlier, he was a visiting faculty to M.S. University, Vadodara, India, and Delta Institute, Vishakhapatnam, India, where he taught seismic data interpretation and evaluation to post-graduate students of petroleum geology and exploration geophysics.
In 1987, he was honored with the National Mineral Award by the Government of India for his pioneering contribution in the field of Reservoir Seismics. He received an Honorary Life Membership from Society of Petroleum Geophysicists, India, in 2006 and the Outstanding Geophysicist award by GEOINDIA in 2008. In the year 2013, he was awarded the B.S. Negi gold medal for lifetime contribution in Petroleum Geophysics by the Society of Petroleum Geophysicists, India. He is also a nominated member of Advisory Council for exploration.
He has published several papers and authored the book “Interpretation and evaluation of seismic data for hydrocarbon exploration and production”, published by Springers in March 2016.
This book is meant for geoscientists and engineers who are beginners, and introduces them to the field of seismic data interpretation and evaluation. The exquisite seismic illustrations and real case examples interspersed in the text help the readers appreciate the interpretation of seismic data in a simple way, and at the same time, emphasize the multidisciplinary, integrated practical approach to data evaluation.
A concerted effort has been made for the readers to realize that mindless interpretation of seismic data using sophisticated software packages, without having a grasp on the elementary principles of geology and geophysics, and coupled with their over-reliance on workstations to provide solutions can have appalling results all too very often.