The paper describes an approach to justifying the need for 4D seismic exploration. Starting from the analysis of all the information available on a reservoir geological structure and the quality of seismic data, a wave field model is then built based on the existing geological model of a real field. Models with various reservoir fluid types are tested. In the end, conclusions are made about the possibility to observe the effect of reservoir development in the wave field during repeated seismic surveys and the efficiency of this approach based on a case study of one of the Gazprom Neft fields.