Case Study Results From the Integration of MEQ, TFI, and Surface Seismic Attributes.

Sicking, Charles; Vermilye, Jan; Lacazette, Alfred; Fish, Ashley

doi:10.15530/urtec-2014-1934623

Cited by 4 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Seismic emissions from fluid flow crustal flow velocity structures v = φv0 can be reliably and cost-effectively imaged by multi-channel seismic data processing developed for monitoring the stimulation and production of shale formation hydrocarbons at spatial resolutions of order 25m [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Tomographic Fracture Imaging (TFI) builds on the multi-channel seismic reflectivity data acquisition and processing technology perfected in the search for and production of hydrocarbonhosting stratigraphic traps in layered geological basin sedimentary sequences [16].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Systematic interaction between crustal microseismicity and crustal permeability has been recently observed in hydrocarbon-bearing shale formations [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Surface seismic array data acquired during stimulation of shale formations can be routinely processed into detailed maps of crustal flow structures at 25m spatial resolution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Seismic Imaging of Convective Geothermal Flow Systems to Increase Well Productivity

Leary¹,

Malin²,

Saunders³

et al. 2020

jept

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A core feature of convective geothermal resource production is wellbore energy flow Q ~ ρC x T x V. E.g., for wellbore fluid of volume heat capacity ρC ~ 4.3MJ/m 3 • o C, temperature T ~ 230 o C, and volumetric flow V ~ 50L/s, wellbore heat energy production is Q~ 50MWth ~ 5MWe. Wellbore fluid flow V =2πr0φv0ℓ for open wellbore length ℓ is given in turn by the spatially variable product crustal porosity times crustal fluid velocity v ≡ φv0 at the wellbore radius r0. For a geothermal wellbore to be productive (nominal Q ~ 5MWe), locally variable bulk inflow rates v = φv0 across crustal volumes of dimension ℓ must be adequate to sustain high wellbore flows (nominal V ~ 50L/s). Wide-ranging crustal well productivity statistics show that few crustal wells flow at these rates. This is not surprising as local bulk flow ~ 10-2 m/s needed for production wellbores is decades greater than ambient bulk fluid flow ~ 10-8-10-7 m/s characteristic of natural convective geothermal systems. Such rare high flow locales must be found. While existing crustal surveys generally fix resource temperatures T with

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic Imaging of Convective Geothermal Flow Systems to Increase Well Productivity

Leary¹,

Malin²,

Saunders³

et al. 2020

jept

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“…TFI has been previously described in a number of publications Sicking et al, 2012;Lacazette and Geiser, 2013;Sicking et al, 2014). SET was originally developed for nuclear test ban monitoring and is widely used with data from surface or shallow buried arrays for monitoring tectonic and volcanic tremor and in the oil and gas industry for determining hydrofracture-induced microearthquakes.…”

Section: Methods 1 -Tomographic Fracture Imaging Smmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Long-Period, Long-Duration (LPLD) activity produces substantially more energy than microearthquakes during hydraulic fracture treatments Zoback, 2013a, 2013b). Extended Duration Signals (EDS, Sicking et al, 2014) are low frequency P-wave emissions that persist for extended periods of time. Both LPLD and EDS are ignored completely by methods focused only on microearthquakes because they do not have distinct, pickable first arrivals and can persist for tens of minutes or longer.…”

Section: Methods 1 -Tomographic Fracture Imaging Smmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Method of Neostress Determination from Passive Seismic Data

Lacazette¹,

Morris²

2015

Unconventional Resources Technology Conference

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This contribution describes an entirely new method for determining the neostress (present-day stress) in reservoirs using passive seismic data from surface arrays. Until now the only stress information available from passive seismic methods has been derived from the focal mechanism solutions of microearthquakes (MEQs). This method has several weaknesses:• The P and T axes of the solution do not correspond to the maximum and minimum compressive stress axes even though they are often used as proxies. • MEQs that are sufficiently strong and clear to determine focal mechanism solutions are relatively rare. • Both surface and downhole microseismic methods are limited in their ability to accurately determine focal mechanism solutions. • The method provides information on the orientations, but not magnitudes, of the three principal stresses. • Focal mechanism solutions yield two potential fault plane solutions which are not determined uniquely.The new method relies on analysis of the orientation, size, and seismic activity of surface segments of Tomographic Fracture Images SM (TFIs). TFIs are direct images of both induced fractures and natural fractures stimulated by fracking (Geiser et al, 2012; Doe et al, Lacazette et al URTeC 2013, Lacazette et al, Sicking et al, URTeC 2014). The method uses passive seismic data acquired with surface arrays.TFIs can be generated as tessellated surfaces. A tessellated surface is a continuous surface composed of triangles with common edges. Slip Tendency Analysis uses the orientations, areas, and cumulative seismic activities of individual triangular facets of tessellated TFIs to find the orientations and relative magnitudes of the principal stresses that best fit the properties of the population of facets. If independent stress magnitude information is available then quantitative estimates of the reservoir stresses can be determined. The method has the advantage of working with large data sets (tens of thousands to millions of facets) that are distributed across the region of the reservoir affected by a hydraulic fracture treatment. The large sample leads to robust solutions. Also, it may be possible to extend the method to map reservoir stress variations. Other important advantages of the method are that it is not dependent on determining first arrivals and is independent of fault plane orientation or MEQ location.

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Tomographic fracture imaging: Examples of induced fracture and reservoir-scale observations during wellbore stimulations, Niobrara and Bakken plays, USA

Ross¹,

Parrott²,

Vermilye³

et al. 2017

The Leading Edge

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Classic microseismic techniques have been unable to adequately resolve many of the questions that have been asked with respect to reservoir stimulation and production in the Bakken and Niobrara unconventional resource plays as they have matured over the last few years. This has become evident especially in relation to the infill drilling and restimulation phases of field development. In support of efforts to design efficient continued development of operations in these areas, Whiting Oil and Gas has utilized a different, but related, technology to enhance understanding of the subsurface environment during and after reservoir stimulation treatments. We present two separate field examples of a novel reservoir monitoring technology that utilizes microseismic surface geophone arrays and seismic emission tomography (SET) methodologies to directly image both natural and hydraulically induced fracture systems. Tomographic fracture imaging (TFI) was developed with the goal of directly identifying and mapping active induced or natural fracture systems, as opposed to inferring them from a population of microseismic hypocenters as is done in classical microseismic data acquisition and analysis. Examples shown here consist of results from a purpose-designed array intended to monitor the stimulation efficiencies of three wellbores on a single Niobrara drill pad that was completed within a very short timeframe, and the results of a much larger reservoir-scale study showing the 4D reservoir effects of field production over a nine-month period by the TFI reprocessing of legacy microseismic data in the Bakken. These examples represent clear empirical evidence that the TFI technique is effective in detecting and localizing active fracture networks that are highly correlative to other wellbore data, even though much remains to be researched about the exact mechanisms involved in the generation of seismic energy within fracture networks.

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Case Study Results From the Integration of MEQ, TFI, and Surface Seismic Attributes.

Cited by 4 publications

References 3 publications

Seismic Imaging of Convective Geothermal Flow Systems to Increase Well Productivity

Seismic Imaging of Convective Geothermal Flow Systems to Increase Well Productivity

A New Method of Neostress Determination from Passive Seismic Data

Tomographic fracture imaging: Examples of induced fracture and reservoir-scale observations during wellbore stimulations, Niobrara and Bakken plays, USA

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