Ears On Wells: Reservoir Delineation and Monitoring Using True 3D Imaging Approaches

Abstract

The key objectives were to achieve better seismic resolution and spatial delineation in very heterogeneous reservoirs. We decided to supplement simultaneously the surface 3D multi component seismic acquisition by placing additional fiber optic live receivers in the subsurface via a "True-3D" experiment without shutting down the oil production. The most cost-effective method to snapshot this wavefield propagation downhole is by utilizing fiber optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). The borehole 3D VSP data were acquired by sharing the surface OBN nodal survey airgun sources. This is an important experiment for the field in the future so that the need to halt insitu field production for 4D time lapse monitoring will not be required if the S/N is acceptable by using this method. This permanent installation of fiber optic cables has become our ears on wells, not only for 3D DAS VSP but for proactive monitoring of the field, ensuring optimum production performance throughout the life of the field.