Uncertainties in microseismic event location analysis
Journal Title: Geology, Geophysics & Environment - Year 2015, Vol 41, Issue 1
Abstract
Microseismic monitoring is the observation technique of small earthquakes, called microseismic events, which occur in the ground as a result of human activities or industrial processes such as hydraulic fracturing. Hydraulic fracturing is the one of the primary technologies for improving well productivity. The main purpose of hydraulic fracturing is to create an effective fracture system in the rock. During this process, fracturing fluids, which contain proppant, grains or sands, are pumped into a formation to hold the cracks open and keep oil and gas flow (Akram 2014). Microseismicity which occurs during the hydraulic fracturing process can be detected by sensitive sensors placed in a monitoring well nearby the treatment well (Pereira & Jones 2010). The recording of microseismic events is very important. Identifying microseismicity distribution in hydraulic fracture treatments is crucial for deducing how the reservoir rocks are responding to the production activity and can be useful for evaluating the stimulation effectiveness in unconventional reservoirs for example by constraining a geomechanical model of fractured formation (Eisner et al. 2009). This is the reason why the correct location of microseismic events is a crucial factor in stimulation of unconventional reservoirs. One of the most important aspects in microseismic event location analysis is to investigate the uncertainties in these events location. In this study, the author presents the application of different downhole array to investigate uncertainties in the estimated location of microseismic events. To achieve this goal, a 3D layered velocity model was used and several different receiver arrays were tested. All calculations were made in GeoTomo MiVuTM Microseismic Processing System. The author showed how the events location uncertainties changed with the location of the receiver array in a monitoring well. This kind of analysis is very important prior to hydraulic fracturing process. It allows to confirm what kind of geometry should be used in a specified region to optimize the production process and to avoid errors caused by the ambiguity in microseismic data interpretation.
Authors and Affiliations
E. Święch
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP199582
- DOI 10.7494/geol.2015.41.1.143
- Views 78
- Downloads 0
Visualization of mining and geological data based on coal mine KWK “Knurów-Szczygłowice” Ruch “Knurów”
The aim of this work was to create a 3D model of underground workings of fragment coal mine KWK “Knurów-Szczygłowice” Ruch “Knurów” for 550 m and 650 m level. The 3D model has been developed on basis of the digital, two-...
ABSTRACTS CETEG 2018 16th Meeting of the Central European Tectonic Groups, Rytro, Poland, 18–21 April 2018
ABSTRACTS CETEG 2018 16th Meeting of the Central European Tectonic Groups, Rytro, Poland, 18–21 April 2018
Physicochemical and geotechnical properties of an ash-slag mixture deposited on a landfill in terms of its use in engineering
Coal combustion ash-slag mixtures have been deposited in landfills in Poland for decades. At the same time, there is a shortfall in the amount of available materials related to the construction and modernisation of trans...
Evolution of the mental picture of shale reservoir completion – 3rd Shale Science Conference (Warsaw, 9–10 June 2014) : note
Modern measuring equipment is sometimes used for applications, for which it has not been originally designed. For example Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), designed for subsurface structures analysis, can be used for tree...
Mercury contamination of bottom sediments in water reservoirs of southern Poland
The aims of study were to an assessment of mercury concentration in bottom sediments collected from eight reservoirs located in south-eastern Poland. DMA-80 Mercury Analyzer was used for the analysis of concentration of...