Seismic attribute expression of differential compaction

Satinder Chopra and Kurt J. Marfurt

…Summary In a marine environment, topographic features on the sea floor will usually be covered by a thick layer of shale with the rise of sea level, resulting in a uniform, nearly flat surface. Evaporating seas may bury sea floor topography with a thick layer of salt. In a fluvial-deltaic…

Presidential Column

…This will be my last RECORDER submission as your CSEG President – our Society’s Annual General Meeting on March 24th, 2012 will see the incoming Assistant Directors take over the executive positions, and Rob Kendall, your incoming President, will be taking over mine. This is a good opportunity to reflect…

Executive Message

…As incoming Director of Educational Services for 2012-2013, it is my pleasure first of all to thank Mike Perz, my predecessor, for his outstanding efforts over the past two years. I’m sure we will all miss his wry sense of humour, but I expect to see Mike at the luncheon…

CAGC Column

…And now for something completely different…in mid- February economist Don Drummond delivered his report for the Ontario Government outlining the measures that would be required for that province to get their deficit under control. Why does this matter to us? Well, much as we have seen with the Euro debt…

Through the Eyes of a Student

…A few months ago I was asked if I would like to be a part of a committee which would be organizing a symposium for the CSEG. Being a student, I wondered if I may be a little out of my league but I reluctantly accepted anyway. My position was…

Tracing the Industry

…Last month I mentioned that we would be attending the Doodlespiel this year. In my opinion, it was a great success. When we volunteer and arrange events like this, we often only hear about the things that go wrong. I know what it was like when I suggested the idea…

Grapevine

…Happy St. Paddy’s Day month! Admittedly, this is one of my favourite holidays of the year… Everyone’s Irish for a day and I can legitimately say “Kiss me, I’m 1/8th Irish”. Let’s see… other events to pay attention to. The inaugural CSEG Symposium will be happening on March 22nd and…

Microseismic Imaging of Hydraulic Fractures: Snap, Crackle and Pops of Shale Reservoirs

Shawn Maxwell

…One of the key factors in economic development of shale and other unconventional reservoirs is effective hydraulic fracturing. Much of the current understanding of hydraulic stimulation of shales can be traced back to the Barnett Shale, where well engineering eventually led to a successful combination of massive water fracs, horizontal…

On the extraction of angle dependent wavelets from synthetic shear wave sonic logs

David Cho, Craig Coulombe and Gary F. Margrave

…Summary The extraction of angle dependent wavelets requires the use of a shear wave sonic log. However, shear wave measurements are often not acquired in a conventional logging suite and must be estimated to produce a synthetic result. The errors associated with the synthetic shear propagate through to the angle…

McKay Oil Sands 2D Seismic Inversion Case Study

Laurie M. Weston Bellman, Amanda Knowles, and Rozalia Pak

…Southern Pacific Resource Corp (STP) acquired 211 km of 2D seismic data in September 2007 and an additional 5.1 km2 of 3D in December 2010. The 2D survey was used as an exploration tool which ultimately led to the McKay Thermal Project. Conventional seismic interpretation has been valuable in defining…

Robert Vestrum

An Interview with Robert Vestrum

…Rob, let's begin by asking you to tell us about your educational qualifications and your work experience. Well, I started my interest in geophysics when I went to Mount Royal College here in Calgary for my first undergraduate year. I was not sure what I was going to do. I…

Mostafa Naghizadeh (2012)

An Interview with Mostafa Naghizadeh

…Mostafa, let us begin by asking you about your educational qualifications and your work experience. I started my post-secondary education with an undergraduate degree in Mining Engineering at Sh. Bahonar University of Kerman. Then, I embarked on my graduate studies with a master's degree in Geophysics from the University of…

Distributed Acoustic Sensing for Geophysical Measurement, Monitoring and Verification

Barbara Cox

…Abstract Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) is a rapidly maturing fiber-optic technology with numerous applications in geophysical and in-well monitoring, and is being developed in a partnership between Shell and Optasense. DAS transforms nearly any fiber-optic cable into a distributed array of acoustic sensors. Recording data requires a special “Interrogator Unit”,…

Seismically Driven Characterization of Unconventional Shale Plays

Ahmed Ouenes

…Introduction Unconventional shale plays are changing the energy sector in many ways. At the macro-economic level, shale plays are becoming a geopolitical game-changer with profound consequences for communities, energy companies, local and regional economies, and our planet. At the financial level, billions of dollars are invested each year in acquiring…

Do you know what you think you know?

Matt Hall

…Long-time US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once famously said that there are known knowns, and there are known unknowns. And of course there are unknown unknowns: “things we do not know we don’t know” (Rumsfeld, 2002). Perhaps there are unknown knowns too, though I’m not sure how you’d know.…

Geophysical Constraints in Geostatistical Modelling

David I. Close

…Abstract This case study, focused on a Cretaceous aged Mannville Group pool under water flood, illustrates the benefits of utilizing a quantitative and deterministic geomodelling workflow for reservoir characterization. Geophysical, geological and petrophysical data are integrated into a deterministic static model for simulation. The results of the simulation, in conjunction…

Quantitative Interpretation Part II: Case studies

Lee Hunt, Scott Reynolds, Scott Hadley and Jon Downton

…Summary Quantitative interpretation is the numeric estimate of the earth property of interest from geophysical data. We believe that quantitative methods are crucial to our ability to add value in the oil and gas industry. We also believe that the cultural shift necessary to fully employ quantitative methods has already…

Presidential Column

…On January 16th, of this year, I had the opportunity to visit the University of Manitoba Department Of Geological Sciences, my Alma Mater. There I met with faculty and students to spread the good word about the CSEG. It struck me that Calgary is NOT the center of the Universe…

Executive Message

…As CSEG Vice President, this year has been a busy one for me. Coming up to speed on the numerous things that the CSEG is involved in is always an eye opener. I attended the annual Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences (CFES) conference in Ottawa, milestone meetings regarding the future…

CAGC Column

…January saw seismic crew counts harken back to the boom years of 2008-2009. I suspect it was a bit of a perfect storm: mild weather into mid-January followed by a 30-degree drop within a 24-hour period. Some areas had allowed for early front work to be completed quickly and efficiently,…