4D Seismic Monitoring of Water Influx at Bay Marchand: The Practical Use of 4D in an Imperfect World

Behrens, R.A.; Condon, Patrick; Haworth, William; Bergeron, Mark; Wang, Zhijing; Ecker, Christine

doi:10.2118/71329-ms

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…There have been numerous efforts to use geophysical observations, particularly time-lapse data, to monitor fluid flow at depth. Much of this work has concentrated on seismic time-lapse, or 4D, amplitude data from oil and gas reservoirs (Barr 1973, Greaves and Fulp 1987, Nur 1989, Eastwood et al 1994, Lazaratos and Marion 1997, Huang et al 1998, Johnson et al 1998, Burkhart et al 2000, Behrens et al 2002, Arts et al 2004). Improved understanding of fluid flow in the shallow sub-surface has resulted from shallow and crosswell time-lapse electromagnetic surveys (Brewster and Annan 1994, Wilt et al 1995, Barker and Moore 1998, Binley et al 2001, Hoversten et al 2003.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating permeability from quasi-static deformation: Temporal variations and arrival-time inversion

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Transient pressure variations within a reservoir can be treated as a propagating front and analyzed using an asymptotic formulation. From this perspective one can define a pressure 'arrival time' and formulate solutions along trajectories, in the manner of ray theory. We combine this methodology and a technique for mapping overburden deformation into reservoir volume change as a means to estimate reservoir flow properties, such as permeability. Given the entire 'travel time' or phase field, obtained from the deformation data, we can construct the trajectories directly, there-by linearizing the inverse problem. A numerical study indicates that, using this approach, we can infer large-scale variations in flow properties. In an application to Interferometric Synthetic Aperture (InSAR) observations associated with a CO 2 injection at the Krechba field, Algeria, we image pressure propagation to the northwest. An inversion for flow properties indicates a linear trend of high permeability.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating permeability from quasi-static deformation: Temporal variations and arrival-time inversion

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this case, the traces from the Alba baseline and monitor surveys had a median NRMs of 81%, indicating that the match was relatively poor, and that only the strongest amplitude differences from production could be unambiguously identified from the acquisition and processing differences. However, if the 4D seismic response is large enough, then production-related differences may still be qualitatively interpreted from poorly matched data 6 .…”

Section: D Interpretation Using Older Seismic Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic Reservoir Surveillance in the Alba Field, UK North Sea

2004

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The feasibility of a time-lapse seismic response to production was identified early on in the life of the Alba field, UK North Sea. The reservoir rocks and fluid properties (oil and water), were conducive to a change in seismic properties in response to water encroachment. The acquisition of appropriate seismic data took longer to obtain, due in part to the vintage of the 3D baseline survey (acquired in 1989) and the focus on lithology identification in a subsequent repeat survey (acquired in 1998), shot using ocean bottom cable. The acquisition differences between the two surveys made it difficult to extract more than the simplest 4D response from the surveys.In 2002, the Britannia coventurers acquired a long offset survey in response to their subsurface requirements. This data provided an opportunity to revisit the overlying Alba 4D response, using a more recent baseline survey and monitor and more similar acquisition geometries.The intepretation of this more recent baseline and monitor pair showed that the amplitude of the direct hydrocarbon indicator (representing the oil water contact) was reduced by production. The contact was no longer a flat surface near active producers and the Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator (DHI) was seen to be tilted. This was probably in response to the production as the effect was not observed in the vicinity of abandoned producers. Comparison of the observed response to forward modeling of the seismic response from the reservoir simulator confirmed that the effect was water coning under the producers. The forward modeling also identified the possibility for amplitude changes at the top of the reservoir. These areas are being evaluated along with production and reservoir simulation to identify infill producer and injector locations.

show abstract

“…According to Waggoner (1998), this is a critical part of 4D seismic, since without a meaningful time-lapse change, there is no useful information derived from 4D seismic processing and a challenge in reservoir modeling is to maintain updatable models as new data become available. Behrens et al (2001) presents the key elements of a successful 4D seismic project: feasibility, acquisition, processing and interpretation. Feasibility comprises two factors: detectability and repeatability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Time-Lapse Seismic and Engineering Data Integration to Estimate Best Time for Seismic Acquisition Data

Ferreira

Schiozer

2013

All Days

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

4D seismic is important information to optimize well planning, interventions and drainage strategy. It provides unique information regarding the properties of the reservoir between and beyond the wells; it can be used to locate bypassed oil, to identify not drained compartments or to mitigate risks such as an unexpectedly early breakthrough of injected fluids. The integration of geophysics and engineering information increase the predictive capability of reservoir simulations, and hence has positive impacts on field management. The estimation of the best time to acquire seismic data has a major impact on reservoir management since, depending on the acquisition period, seismic may not be able to identify important variations in the reservoir dynamic properties, important changes may no longer be detected, well history matching can be able to identify properties, and it can be too late for effective action in field management. 4D seismic reservoir monitoring has no value unless it impacts operations and its utility is related to the period of seismic data acquisition. The challenge is to use effectively the available information; the integration of geophysics and engineering information must be accomplished by performing the history matching process that incorporates both production and 4D seismic data. Changes in saturation and pressure, derived from 4D seismic, can be used to improve the quality of the reservoir model allowing a better understanding of the reservoir model and fluid flow. Given the importance in defining the time for seismic data acquisition, this paper evaluates the quality improvement of a synthetic reservoir model by incorporating seismic data over different production periods and identifies characteristics that impact on the best time estimation. It also, estimates the best time to the case studied considering a practical condition. The study evaluated two cases: a posteriori (Case 1) and a priori (Case 2) analysis. In Case 1 the true model is known; a history match process was performed to 2, 4 and 6 years of production using two methods considering: (1) only production data; (2) production and seismic data. By analyzing the reservoir model quality improvement it was possible to identify the main characteristics that determine the moment to acquire seismic data. As, in practice, the earth true model is unknown, in Case 2, a process flow considering a risk analysis associated with reservoir simulation was applied to estimate the best time to acquire 4D seismic information. Analyzing the reservoir model quality improvement it was possible to identify the main characteristics that determine the best moment to acquire seismic data, to a non-mature oil reservoir with water injection production mechanism. These characteristics include: saturation and pressure error maps, production data error and breakthrough distribution within production wells.

show abstract

4D Seismic Monitoring of Water Influx at Bay Marchand: The Practical Use of 4D in an Imperfect World

Abstract: TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Estimating permeability from quasi-static deformation: Temporal variations and arrival-time inversion

Estimating permeability from quasi-static deformation: Temporal variations and arrival-time inversion

Seismic Reservoir Surveillance in the Alba Field, UK North Sea

Time-Lapse Seismic and Engineering Data Integration to Estimate Best Time for Seismic Acquisition Data

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About