Smart seismic field monitoring in a complex desert environment
Paper presented at the SPE workshop Time lapse in Carbonate – Abu Dhabi, AUE, May 2022, presented by Habib Al Khatib. Written by: Yessine Boubaker1, Habib Al Khatib1, Elodie Morgan1, J.L. Mari1, Said Abri2, Saif Azri2. 1SpotLight, 2PDO
Abstract
Seismic full field monitoring of onshore reservoir is often met with operational and geophysical barriers. Fields in operations are usually more and more obstructed over time preventing the repeat of baseline 3D layout. Carbonates are known to lower the 4D seismic response to fluid substitution and are requiring highly repeatable systems to be efficiently monitored (Barker, 2008). This is largely because the acoustic response of carbonates has been shown to be highly variable and there has been some debate regarding the applicability of Gassmann’s equation for predicting the impact of changes in saturation on the acoustic properties of carbonates.
Finally, the complex geology near the surface generates a strong ground roll that had been observed on the 3D gathers. This observation allowed us to anticipate and define a reception antenna allowing us to address this matter. To overcome the above challenges, a smart seismic field monitoring method is designed that enables to focus the seismic measurements on specific areas to “calibrate” the lateral expansion of the steam injection and the shallow sour gas. The method is using a data mining approach on the existing exploration 3D seismic to identify the optimal source and receiver locations, antennae, and acquisition parameters.
Video: