Microseismic Response of Well Casing Failures at a Thermal Heavy Oil Operation

Smith, Richard James; Alinsangan, N.S.; Talebi, S.

doi:10.2523/78203-ms

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Casing failure events have a unique seismic signature that differentiates them from shear events (Talebi et al, 1998). The casing failure model has proven to be robust with a detection success rate of greater than 80% (Smith et al, 2002). A combination of the waveform characteristics, the analysis of arrival times, hodogram analysis and integration of engineering data (pressure, steam injection rate) facilitates the classification and localization of the events.…”

Section: Microseismic For Operations Integritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution and Application of Geoscience Technology to Integrated Reservoir Characterisation for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery - Cold Lake Field, Alberta, Canada

2013

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The Cold Lake heavy oil field in Western Canada was discovered in the late 1950's and contains approximately 5.3x10 9 m 3 (33 billion barrels) of heavy crude bitumen. Commercial production utilizing Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) commenced in 1985. By the end of 2010 over 159x10 6 m 3 (1 billion barrels) of bitumen had been produced. The Cold Lake Heavy Oil field currently produces approximately 24,000 m 3 /d (150,000 barrels per day).The geological models and concepts that supported early production were based on well log and core data only. Early use of 2D seismic data showed limited utility for imaging the high net-to-gross reservoir. However, the advent of high-resolution 3D and 4D seismic in the early 1990's provided renewed interest in seismic data for imaging thermal processes. These early "4D" surveys were small in area but provided data critical for imaging the steam heated regions (thermal conformance) in the reservoir and managing follow-up drilling and completion strategies. Recent advances in 3D and 4D seismic processing and analysis now allow quantifiable estimations of thermal reservoir conformance to guide enhanced recovery methods and depletion planning.A novel use of microseismic technology was developed in the mid 1990's to assist in the early detection of casing failures and fluid releases into the overlying shales and aquifers to mitigate environmental, safety and economic consequences . Since 1998 microseismic monitoring has been integrated into commercial operations and with our interpretation of depositional geometries to further our understanding of steam migration. Today, Cold Lake has more than 100 dedicated microseismic monitoring wells making it one of the largest microseismic monitoring networks in the oil and gas industry. In the mid 2000's larger, high-frequency 3D seismic surveys were acquired for reservoir characterization. 3D seismic data are integrated field-wide with other data to build predictive geologic models and to assess recoverable bitumen volumes for multiple extraction technologies. These models enable maximum efficiency of resource development while reducing reliance on relatively expensive core data. Several enhancements to the recovery process are in the testing stage today to improve existing development or facilitate future developments in more challenging resource areas. Continued geoscience data collection and integration will drive efficient development of these new opportunities.

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Section: Microseismic For Operations Integritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution and Application of Geoscience Technology to Integrated Reservoir Characterisation for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery - Cold Lake Field, Alberta, Canada

2013

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“…Consequently, the dilation tendency of the oilsands is significant (Agar, 1984;Kosar, 1989;Wong et al, 1993;Samieh, 1995). This is especially true under low confining pressures.…”

Section: A General Description On the Reservoir Geologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Normally if InSAR is used in Alberta, a large number of corner reflectors are installed to increase the signal coherence. Microseismic monitoring is used in CSS to primarily monitor the casing deformation and failure (Smith et al, 2002), but it should be noted that the microseismic is not suitable to provide the early warnings against potential caprock deformation and failure events. Unlike CSS, the impact of SAGD on caprock is temperature-driven meaning that the temperature process is transient.…”

Section: Major Geomechanical Work For the Caprock Integritymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geomechanics for the Thermal Stimulation of Heavy Oil Reservoirs–Canadian Experience

Yuan

Yang

2011

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This paper will cover both caprock integrity and reservoir deformation, drawing from our years of experience in working with the heavy oil/oilsands industry in Alberta, Canada. Theoretical principles are described, analytical derivations made and field examples given, all to help illustrate the fundamentals and summarize the learnings in proactive utilization of geomechanics to enhance the reservoir performance and proactive consideration of geomechanics to ensure the caprock integrity. Topics include dilation tendency and fracturing behaviour in the oilsands, major geomechanical work components for the caprock integrity analysis/design, mini-frac tests and nonlinear coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes.

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Microseismic Response of Well Casing Failures at a Thermal Heavy Oil Operation

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Evolution and Application of Geoscience Technology to Integrated Reservoir Characterisation for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery - Cold Lake Field, Alberta, Canada

Evolution and Application of Geoscience Technology to Integrated Reservoir Characterisation for Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery - Cold Lake Field, Alberta, Canada

Geomechanics for the Thermal Stimulation of Heavy Oil Reservoirs–Canadian Experience

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