The Feasibility Study for Optimum Marine Csem Survey Design for Oil Exploration

Abstract

The controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) method may be the most significant new technology for oil and gas exploration since the development of 3-D seismic 20 years ago. The promise for the technology lies in its ability to differentiate resistive, potentially oil-bearing intervals from surrounding, more conductive water-bearing units. The principal is the same as that used in well logging devices to identify hydrocarbon zones in well bores. The technique is not new but the capability to resolve relatively thin resistive intervals in the depth domain offers new promise to lower risk through direct hydrocarbon indicators in conjunction with modern seismic methodsWe evaluated the sensing capability of the marine CSEM method to detect a thin hydrocarbon reservoir in deep, intermediate and shallow marine environments by analyzing the synthetic responses and the related physics using numerical modeling techniques. We would like to investigate the physics of marine CSEM using 1-D modeling program. The scope of investigation involved, all possible source-receiver configurations, advantages and disadvantages of frequency-versus time-domain systems, advantages and disadvantages of electric versus magnetic field measurements, a range of source-receiver separations including the coincident situation, and finally the air wave effect.