Articles
Collaborative Studies of Regional Seismicity in Northeast British Columbia
Amir Mansour Farahbod, John F. Cassidy, Honn Kao and Dan Walker
This article documents a recently-initiated, collaborative study of seismicity in northeast British Columbia. Induced seismicity is a topic of increasing, and global interest, in particular with respect to shale-gas extraction activities. There are many important questions regarding linkages between induced seismicity and hydraulic fracturing (HF) activities. Addressing these questions requires…
Interpretation of Microseismic Using Geomechanical Modeling of Multiple Hydraulic Fractures Interacting with Natural Fractures – Application to Montney Shale
Ahmed Ouenes, Yamina Aimene and John Nairn
This paper describes the application of a new geomechanical workflow for modeling the interaction between hydraulic and natural fractures. The geomechanical workflow combines the meshless Material Point Method (MPM) with Continuous Fracture Modeling (CFM). The distribution of the natural fracture density is estimated from a time lapse 3C seismic that…
The Jordan-Risha High Productivity 3D Survey
Jack Bouska
In January 2010, BP signed an agreement to explore and appraise the 7,200 sq km Risha Concession, located in Eastern Jordan, bordering Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. A short Exploration and Appraisal period mandated acquisition of 5000 sq.km. of high fold 3D data, to be completed within the first 18…
Introduction to October Focus: Seismic Interpretation
Ayon Kumar Dey
This issue of the RECORDER focuses on modern seismic interpretation through four interesting articles. Highlighted are critical elements such as best practices and the importance of integrating the earth mechanics for a better subsurface understanding. I invite you to come along to see the present and future of seismic interpretation.
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Chasing Density – An Introduction to Seismic Acquisition, Processing, and Interpretation Methods Leading to Quantitative Interpretation
Brian Schulte and David Manthei
For any given reservoir or resource play, there are geological and geophysical measurements that impact the exploitation of in-situ hydrocarbons. Correct interpretation of these measurements is important to the overall economic success of an Exploration and Production company’s endeavors. As geoscientists, the integration of our conditioned geological and geophysical data…
Natural fracture characterization from 3D structural attributes
Damien Thenin and Ron Larson
As seismic interpretation continuously evolves, it seems that interpreters have not kept pace with technological innovation provided in commercial software: workflows may be more persistent than technologies. Despite having access to 3D seismic for close to three decades, the majority of an interpreter’s time is spent picking inline and crosslines…
Optimising resource plays – an integrated “GeoPrediction” approach
S. O'Connor, S. Mildren, M. Kemper, C. Malaver, J. Gallop and S. Green
A mechanical earth model (or “MEM”) is a fundamental tool for considering the relationships between stress, strength and elastic properties of unconventional resources. The ultimate aim of these MEM’s is to aid the targeting of producible “sweet spots” so that an intelligent stimulation plan can be developed that leads to…
Offshore East Coast: Model-based Water-Layer Demultiple Breathes New Life into Old Data
Key Seismic Solutions Ltd.
This article describes recent development and application of a model-based water-layer demultiple technique. We discuss some application details such as the water-bottom Green’s function and the necessity of a two-step prediction to handle both shot-side and receiver-side multiples. This method is tested using a finite difference synthetic dataset and then…
3D Seismic Image Processing for Interpretation of Faults and Horizons
Dave Hale
Fault surfaces are an important aspect of subsurface geology that we can extract from 3D seismic images. Estimates of fault slips are important as well, as they enable correlation across faults of subsurface properties. Moreover, with estimated fault slips, we can undo faulting apparent in 3D seismic images. After unfaulting,…
Introduction to September Focus: University Geophysical Research
Rob Holt
Whilst brainstorming ideas for future focus topics for the RECORDER this Spring with the other members of the CSEG RECORDER committee, I proposed an edition focused on geophysical research at Canadian universities, largely because I was wondering what the hot topics are in research these days, and who is working…
Industrial research consortia in petroleum geophysics at Canadian universities
Larry Lines
This paper is based mostly on the author’s experience with five Canadian university research consortia and the experiences of other Canadian university colleagues. It is the story of a strong, dynamic funding vehicle for supporting research and researchers that has succeeded for more than four decades in North America. Research…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – University of Alberta
Mauricio D. Sacchi
Research and training of graduate students in the area of geophysics at the University of Alberta is carried out at the Department of Physics. At present, the geophysics group is composed of 12 faculty members, 48 graduate students and 14 postdoctoral fellows. Three members of the Geophysics group also hold…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – University of British Columbia
Felix J. Herrmann, Eldad Haber and Doug Oldenburg
The UBC Geophysical Inversion Facility (GIF) is a research unit at the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (EOAS). It is co-directed by Doug Oldenburg and Eldad Haber and our research is concerned with the development of numerical strategies and associated software needed to invert data from various types…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – University of Calgary
D.W. Eaton
The Department of Geoscience offers B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs in geophysics; by virtue of the University of Calgary’s location in Canada’s energy capital, these programs provide unparalleled access to the geophysical sector within the oil and gas industry. With 180 students majoring in geophysics, the undergraduate program is the…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – Carleton University
Raymond Caron
A research collaboration between Carleton University, the Federal Government, and Sander Geophysics headed by Dr. Claire Samson, Dr. Michel Chouteau, Dr. Martin Bates, and Ph.D. Candidate Raymond Caron, is currently working on a methodology that applies the helicopter- borne transient electromagnetic (HTEM) method to measuring the thickness of glaciolacustrine overburden…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – Dalhousie University
Mladen Nedimović
The current geophysical research programs at Dalhousie University are led by Christopher Beaumont, Keith Louden and Mladen Nedimović. Christopher Beaumont is a Professor in the Department of Oceanography and Canada Research Chair in Geodynamics (Tier 1). He is a globally recognized leader with a research program centered on quantitative modelling…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – University of Manitoba
I. Ferguson and A.W. Frederiksen
The geophysics research group at the University of Manitoba consists of three faculty members: Dr. Ian Ferguson (Professor), Dr. Andrew Frederiksen (Associate Professor), and Dr. Wooil Moon (Professor Emeritus), along with one technician and a variable number of graduate students (four as of July, 2014). The research of Ian Ferguson…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – McMaster University
Janok P. Bhattacharya, Joe I. Boyce and William A. Morris
The School of Geography and Earth Sciences (SGES) at McMaster University offers undergraduate and graduate degree (M.Sc., Ph.D) programs in Earth and Environmental Sciences. SGES currently has about 150 full-time undergraduates and about 90 graduate students in M.Sc. and Ph.D. programs. Undergraduate training in applied geophysics is offered through 3rd…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – Memorial University
Jeremy Hall
The Memorial geophysics group is active in a wide variety of fields. The research is supported by grants from government (e.g., NSERC, RDC NL, ACOA, PEEP, Turkish Research Council) and private-sector (oil and mining companies, active in the province and its offshore: e.g., Chevron Canada, Husky Energy, Hibernia MDC, Nalcor…
Geophysical research ROCKS at Canadian universities! – Queen’s University
Alexander Braun
Geophysical research and education at Queen’s University in the Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering has a legacy of inspiring some of the most influential leaders in the natural resources sector and academia. The most notable geophysical research group in the past conducted work on exploration seismology. Geophysics related…
