Finding Nickel from the B-Field at Raglan – ‘To B or not dB’

Richard T. Osmond and Anthony H. Watts, William R. Ravenhurst, Catherine P. Foley and Keith E. Leslie

…Summary Based on test work over known Ni-Cu sulphide deposits, in Sudbury (Watts A., 1997, King A., 1994) as well as Voisey’s Bay (Balch S.J., 1998), it has become increasingly clear that pyrrhotite hosted sulphide deposits possess conductances on the order of 100 kS to 10,000 kS and even greater…

Executive Message

…I am almost a year into my first term as Assistant Director of Member Services for the CSEG. I have learned of the many issues facing the society, and the need to balance funding and yet provide services for the members. The CSEG has a dual role of furthering the…

CAGC Column

…Geophysically speaking – The State of Seismic The topic of the day – whispered quietly in the hallways – but with great fear in the public eye. These are excerpts from qualified experts in the North American industry in an effort to provide a balanced presentation. The solutions must come…

Grapevine

…International Datashare Corporation Introduces a New Division iDc wishes to announce their newest division "REQUEST INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS LTD." iDc has recently completed the acquisition of Seistrac lnc., which supplements its earlier purchase of EDM from Veritas DGC Inc. earlier this year. Through this new acquisition, iDc has acquired the hardware,…

Tracing the Industry

…Sam Johnston of Johnston Seismic Consulting Ltd. has recently relocated from Calgary to Maracaibo, Venezuela to work on the Lago and LagoSur fields. He can still be reached for short-term S.A. contracts by e-mail at johnstos@cuug.ab.ca. LandQuest Services, suppliers of Seismic Support Services is pleased to announce that Allan Feir…

Crosswell Seismic Profiling: The Decade Ahead

Jerry M. Harris

…For many years Crosswell seismic profiles (XSP) have promised high-resolution images for purposes of reservoir characterization and monitoring. Designed to fill the gap in coverage and resolution that exists between surface seismic and borehole logs, the crosswell seismic profile has overcome numerous hurdles in technology development, operations, and commercialization. Where…

Natural Gas Hydrates: Permanent Earth Constituents Impacting Sediment Strength and Continental Margin Evolution

Allen Lowrie, Carol Lutken, Erika Geresi, Richard H. Bennett, Richard Faas, Tom McGee

…Abstract Natural gas hydrates are crystalline structures that combine natural gases and water under appropriate temperature and pressure conditions. Natural gases and water are found throughout the Solar System, even in interplanetary space. It is geologically reasonable to conjecture that these natural components were incorporated into the proto-Earth and that…

Integrated Well Log and Reflection Seismic Analysis of Gas Hydrate Accumulations on Richards Island

T.S. Collett and S.R. Dallimore

…Abstract The subsurface zone in which the pressure and temperature conditions are conducive to the occurrence of gas-hydrates is areally extensive beneath most of the Mackenzie Delta-Beaufort Sea region, with the base of the gas-hydrate stability zone more than 1,200 m deep on Richards Island. In a recent study, gas…

How AVO Can be a Multiple Attenuator

Jan Dewar

…Unintended benefits Sometimes there are spin-off benefits to developing a technology. From NASA’s space technology program, for instance, we have benefited from unintended applications such as fireproof suits for auto racers, laser angioplasty, advanced digital imaging for biopsies, and programmable pacemakers. While programmable pacemakers clearly were not directly developed for…

Executive Message

…It's a pleasure to serve as Assistant Director of Education for the CSEG in 2002. The primary responsibility is to arrange the monthly Technical Luncheons. Several committees, such as Continuing Education, Outreach, and Scholarship also report through that executive director. I'd like to congratulate the Continuing Education Committee for their…

Grapevine

…Seismic Micro-Technology, Inc. Adds Technology of Rock Solid Images In an effort to push the boundaries of visualization tools and broaden interpretation capabilities, Seismic Micro-Technology, Inc. (SMT) and Rock Solid Images have entered into an agreement where SMT will offer a new product based on Rock Solid Images attribute technology.…

Always Put Your Best Foot Forward…

An Interview with Bill Kammermayer

…[Satinder]: Bill, tell about us your early education and experience. I was born in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. In 1933 I entered grade I in Humboldt. The family moved to St. Catherine’s, Ontario during the war years where I completed grades III to VI. In 1945, after the war, we moved back…

Recent Developments in Wave Equation Migration

Christof Stork, Uwe Albertin, Clement Kostov, Dave Yingst, Jerry Kapoor

…Abstract As a result of recent developments, prestack wave equation migration is capable of producing dramatically improved sub-salt images over Kirchhoff depth migration and has become a hot technology in the Gulf of Mexico. It is possible that wave equation migration can help in other high velocity contrast areas such…

Rock Physics of Geopressure and Prediction of Abnormal Pore Fluid Pressures Using Seismic Data: Part 1

José M. Carcione and Hans B. Helle

…Summary Various physical processes cause anomalous pressures of underground fluids in a petroleum province. We quantify the effect on seismic properties caused by the common mechanisms of overpressure generation such as (kerogen-to-oil and oil-to-gas conversion) disequilibrium compaction. Fluid pressure due to kerogen-to-oil conversion in source rock shale significantly reduces the…

Rock Physics of Geopressure and Prediction of Abnormal Pore Fluid Pressures Using Seismic Data: Part 2

José M. Carcione and Hans B. Helle

…This is a continutation of Rock Physics of Geopressure and Prediction of Abnormal Pore Fluid Pressures Using Seismic Data (Part 1). 4. Seismic-to-pressure conversion The sand/clay acoustic model for shaley sandstones, developed by Carcione et al. (2000) yields the seismic velocities as a function of clay (shale) content, porosity, saturation,…

Seismic Detection and Estimation of Overpressures Part I: the Rock Physics Basis

Nader Dutta, Tapan Mukerji, Manika Prasad, and Jack Dvorkin

…Summary This paper describes the rock physics basis of understanding and better defining seismic signatures of overpressures (defined as the pore fluid pressure in excess of the hydrostatic pressure). Our accompanying paper describes applications of these fundamental rock models for estimating pore pressures from field seismic data. The physical basis…

Seismic Detection and Estimation of Overpressures Part II: Field Applications

Nader Dutta, Tapan Mukerji, Manika Prasad, and Jack Dvorkin

…Summary Subsurface formations with pore fluid pressure in excess of the hydrostatic pressure (geopressure) are encountered worldwide. Although there are a multitude of causes that can result in geopressure, under compaction due to rapid burial of sediments is the predominant cause of geopressure. Typically, if the loading process is rapid,…

Challenges Of Porosity-Based Pore Pressure Prediction

Richard. E. Swarbrick

…Introduction Newly emerging plays with high reserves replacement potential include the deep-water sediments of ocean margins worldwide, sub-salt reserves and high-pressure high-temperature environments, all of which are subject to significant overpressure, that is pore pressures above “normal” or hydrostatic. In each of these environments the pore pressures can reach values…

Dimensionless Gradients Applied To Pore Pressure Prediction – A New Standard

Martin Traugott and Richard Swarbrick

…Given the cost of controlling problems associated with drilling pore pressure surprises, it is important to develop concise methods for predicting pressure gradients ahead of the bit. This paper sets out a new standard for working with gradients and explores the Eaton relationship between gradients and seismic velocity. A main…

Pore Pressure Estimation – What Can We Learn From 4D?

M. Landrø and Øyvind Kvam

…Summary Most methods for pressure prediction from seismic are based on detection of low velocity anomalies. The significant growth of time-lapse seismic surveys gives us a possibility to check the robustness and limitations of these classical prediction methods, and might also lead to new methods for pressure prediction that can…