Articles
How Geophysics Can Generate and Demonstrate More Value During the Development of Mature Unconventional Resource Plays: A Personal Opinion
Rob Holt
The discovery in the early 1990s by George Mitchell and his team at Mitchell Energy of how to profitably exploit the Barnett Shale play fuelled the North American unconventionals revolution, aided by (1) oil and gas price increases; (2) improvements in drilling and completions technologies; (3) readily available capital and…
Improving Seismic Data While Decreasing Costs
Ann O’Byrne
In the latter half of 2013 Cenovus initiated a pilot to decrease the cost of acquiring 3D seismic data while maintaining data quality and safety standards. Monitor 4D’s frequently made use of Vibroseis as an infill. Earlier testing indicated that Vibroseis acquisition could replace future baseline surveys; however investigation and…
Introduction to June Focus: DAS/Borehole Geophysics
Paul Webster
Welcome to this special edition of the RECORDER with a focus on Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) and borehole geophysics. There are four papers on DAS, in particular with application to Vertical Seismic Profiles (VSPs) and one on DAS for microseismic. Since DAS was first used as a downhole optic sensing…
The use of fiber-optic sensing to efficiently acquire vertical seismic profiles
Tim Dean, Theo Cuny, and Arthur Hartog
Conventional vertical seismic profiles (VSPs) are recorded by lowering receivers, usually geophones but increasingly accelerometers, contained within shuttles down a well where they are anchored to the borehole wall using clamps or bowsprings. A seismic source (often located adjacent to the well-head, i.e. at zero-offset) is then activated and data…
Comparing DAS and Geophone Zero-Offset VSP Data Sets Side-By-Side
Mark E. Willis, Cemal Erdemir, Andreas Ellmauthaler, Oscar Barrios, David Barfoot
Zero-offset vertical seismic profile (VSP) data were acquired by both retrievable (wireline) geophones and distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) on cemented-in fiber-optic cable. Side-by-side comparisons of these data sets are shown at several steps in the processing flow to help understand the advantages of each of these data types. Good data…
Simultaneous Acquisition of Distributed Acoustic Sensing VSP with Multi-mode and Single-mode Fiber-optic Cables and 3C-Geophones at the Aquistore CO2 Storage Site
D. E. Miller, T.M. Daley, D. White, B.M. Freifeld, M. Robertson, J. Cocker, M. Craven
A dynamite 3D VSP survey, a Vibrator 2D VSP survey and related calibration surveys at the Aquistore CO2 storage site in Saskatchewan served as a technology test for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS). DAS data was acquired as a vertical seismic profile (VSP) on two codeployed fibers, one single-mode (SM) and one…
Field trials of distributed acoustic sensing for reservoir delineation with VSP
Ge Zhan, Qingsong Li, Jay Nahm, Jan Kommedal and Jon Konkler
A most recent fiber-optic based technology that has been adopted in VSP acquisition is distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), where the fiber-optic cable in the well is the sensor and a typical seismic source is shooting on the surface into the reservoir formation. This technology enables a fiber-optic cable to be…
DAS Microseismic
Paul Webster, Mathieu Molenaar and Colin Perkins
Fiber-Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) applied to microseismic has the potential to significantly change the cost structure and quality of microseismic data acquisition. When a fiber-optic cable is deployed down-hole, it can be used for many purposes: hydraulic fracture monitoring, flow monitoring, VSPs and microseismic. Economies of scale are achieved…
Introduction to May Focus Discovery and Exploration: Asteroids
Alan R. Hildebrand
he last two decades have seen extraordinary advances in diverse research directions such as the Standard Model of particle physics or unravelling the DNA sequences of viruses to primates. However, possibly under-appreciated is that our Solar System is being mapped for the first time in an unprecedented age of discovery…
The Last Alert: A New Battle Front in Asteroid Defense
Aren Heinze
While some discoveries in astronomy rely on light that has crossed the observable universe to reach us, another epochal endeavor is unfolding much closer to our home planet: the cataloging of Solar System objects that could actually hit the Earth.
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Big Questions About Our Solar System’s Small Bodies: Asteroids and Comets
A. Mainzer, J. Bauer, R. Cutri, T. Grav, E. Kramer, J. Masiero, C. Nugent, S. Sonnett, E. Wright
In addition to its eight planets circling the Sun, our solar system teems with smaller bodies, asteroids and their more ice-rich cousins, the comets. The dominance of these so-called minor planets in terms of their sheer numbers provokes several seemingly simple questions about them: How many are there, did they…
The Catalina Sky Survey: Exploration leads to discovery, but not always for the discovery that was expected
Steve Larson
The Catalina Sky Survey (CSS) is a NASA-funded survey to help quantify the potential hazard of impacts by Near Earth Objects (NEOs). However, the survey images contain many other scientifically useful data.
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Influence of Acquisition Geometry on Event Cloud Asymmetry and on b-Value Analysis
Melanie Grob and Mirko van der Baan
The most common setup to monitor microseismic events during hydraulic fracturing experiments includes a single observation well. This type of setup can lead to biases in event detection, location and magnitude computation. We statistically analyse simulated catalogues of events that represent common hydraulic fracturing experiments and especially focus on the…
The Quest Carbon Capture Project
Simon O’Brien
In September 2012, Shell, on behalf of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project venture (Shell Canada Energy, Chevron Canada Limited, Marathon Oil Canada Corporation), announced that it was proceeding to construct the Quest Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project near Fort Saskatchewan. Quest is now capturing more than more than one…
The New in Microseismic-based Prediction of Ultimate Stage by Stage SRV Through Engineering
Claudio Virues
Microseismic monitoring has become the approach most often employed to gain an in-situ understanding of the rock’s response during hydraulic fracture stimulations. The utilization of distributed geophone arrays around treatments has provided an opportunity to investigate the way these fractures develop by examining the microseismic events recorded during a stimulation.…
Introduction To April Focus: Engineering Geophysics
Mostafa Naghizadeh
In this issue of the RECORDER, our focus topic is Engineering Geophysics. The methods of geophysical prospecting can be utilized in a variety of engineering applications, providing valuable information to improve the safety and reduce the costs of projects. These applications cover a wide range of environmental, mining, civil, geotechnical,…
Geophysical Applications to Construction Engineering Projects
Alastair McClymont, Paul Bauman, Eric Johnson, and Laurie Pankratow
“Drill, baby, drill!” It’s an often quoted line, made famous by former US Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For those of us who work in the field of engineering geophysics, the mantra should be “drill sparingly, baby, drill sparingly”. While there is no substitute for direct sampling of the ground, the…
Terminology for fluid-injection induced seismicity in oil and gas operations
David W. Eaton, Mirko van der Baan and Allan Ingelson
A glossary of terms, applicable to fluid-injection induced seismicity in oil and gas operations, is compiled from various sources. Creation, adoption and widespread use of standard definitions for induced seismicity and related terms will promote consistency and uniformity and will help to avoid confusion that may arise if different definitions…
A Cheat Sheet on Induced Seismicity
Neda Boroumand and Samira Maghsoudi
We begin by defining a few key terms: “induced seismicity” refers to a seismic event that is caused by pore pressure and stress change associated with human activity, “potentially induced seismicity” describes an induced seismic event that is coincidental with human activity, “microseismicity” are small scale induced seismic events related…
Value of Integrated Geophysics – Microseismic-Derived Ultimate Expected Fracture Half-Length in SRV in a Multi-Staged Pad in the Horn River Basin
Claudio Virues, Jessica Budge, Eric Von Lunen
Over the past decade, microseismic (MS) monitoring has become the approach often used to gain an in-situ understanding of the rock’s response during stimulation. Recently, the utilization of downhole monitoring of treatments has provided for an opportunity to investigate the way these fractures develop by examining microseismic events recorded during…
