In CSEM exploration, the receivers are generally located about three to five times the skin depth from the transmitter. In this paper, we study the effect of a conductor between the transmitter and the survey area on the target conductor response using forward modeling and inversion. The 2D forward finite element calculations show that the conductor mainly affects the response at middle and low frequencies. The lower the resistivity and the larger the conductor, the larger the effect and the effect increases with decreasing frequency. The inversion results indicate that the calculated position of the target body can move towards the source, leading to an incorrect interpretation without considering the conductor. In order to reduce the effect of a conductor between the source and the survey area, CSEM acquisition should be conducted in three dimensions using multiple sources and 3D inversion should be used during interpretation.
