High Fidelity Microseismic Data Acquisition in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp Shale Play

Abstract

Pioneer Natural Resources has recently made an intensive effort to acquire more than sixty microseismic jobs monitoring more than 1400 stages during the past two years in Texas unconventional shale plays. A majority of these data have been acquired over the Permian Wolfcamp Shale Formation of West Texas using one downhole acquisition system that allows for inter-comparisons of microseismic data. Pioneer has integrated microseismic data with 3D seismic attributes including elastic inversion products, well data including horizontal sonic scanners and formation micro imager (FMI) logs, along with completion data including tracers to better understand completions, geomechanical rock properties, and well spacing.