Frequent Seismic Monitoring for Pro-Active Reservoir Management

Abstract

Beyond exploration, the most important role for geophysics in the oil and gas industry is to influence field operations, so that the value of existing assets is fully realized. The recent trend in time-lapse seismic has been toward very frequent reservoir monitoring, with the aspiration to optimize both near-and long-term field management. In this paper we describe steps taken by Shell to tackle the main challenges of frequent seismic monitoring -cost, intrusiveness, and value realization. Offshore, cost reductions can be achieved through novel types of receivers and more efficient vessel utilization. Onshore, cost and footprint reductions are sought through novel survey designs, including fiber-optic DAS cables, sparse geometries, and movable subsurface sources. A demonstration of value is currently pursued through a large onshore trial of continuous monitoring of steam injection at Peace River, Canada, active since 2014. Initial results indicate that steam non-conformance can be diagnosed, remediation actions taken, and their effectiveness evaluated. Inter-disciplinary collaboration is a must. The associated workflow for assimilating frequent seismic data continues to develop and should benefit future monitoring projects both onshore and offshore. Offshore SEG New Orleans Annual Meeting

Toward Automated Early Detection of Risks for a CO2 Plume Containment From Permanent Seismic Monitoring Data

“…Second, history‐matching of disjointed snapshots of the plume is difficult, because CO 2 may reach the observed states in a vast variety of ways. Permanent seismic monitoring (Jenkins et al., 2017; Roach et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2019) may become an invaluable monitoring tool for CO 2 storage projects, because frequent images of CO 2 plumes will facilitate history‐matching of the reservoir simulations (Omofoma et al., 2019) and increase confidence of early leakage detection (Mateeva et al., 2015).…”