Microseismic Monitoring PSET®
MSI provides seismic motion for subsurface events with its FracStar® service
To pinpoint microseismic events during hydraulic fracturing and put them into greater context for more informed field production decisions, MicroSeismic, Inc. (MSI) offers its Passive Seismic Emission Tomography (PSET®) technology. This patented microseismic monitoring, mapping and analysis process employs the concept of beam steering to gather and sum the output from MSI's FracStar® array or BuriedArray™ services.
The collected data is transmitted to a central recording and processing facility, where it is analyzed in order to provide an accurate understanding of the reservoir's heterogeneity and the geological conditions from which hydrocarbons are being extracted. MSI's technology allows geologists to integrate microseismic data with other subsurface data, regardless of the reservoir-simulation platform.
While MSI's data analysis employs some widely-used geophysical techniques, our technology differentiator comes from our depth migration algorithms, which provide a more complete and precise view of the reservoir, all in real-time. Because of limited aperture, downhole monitoring methods are unable to offer this level of investigation.
The real-time geophysical data analysis provided by MSI's PSET® technology and analysis service results in real-time decision making for 100% of the frac stages monitored. The results help operators:
Microseismic Monitoring Services
A range of microseismic monitoring services are available through PSET® technology, which include:
- Mapping hydraulically induced fractures
- Delineating reservoir-scale faults or discontinuities
- Identifying areas of reservoir compaction
- Monitoring injected fluid fronts
- Continuously monitoring the reservoir.
MSI provides focal mechanisms for its microseismic events that allow our clients to better understand their reservoir's response to fracing and stress state changes.
Mapping hydraulically-induced fractures
MSI's surface-based PSET® technology provides essentially the same microseismic event information as a wellbore survey, but without the need to deploy geophones downhole. Other significant benefits over downhole include:
- Avoiding the directional bias or uneven monitoring volume common to wellbore-based systems with an improperly located observation well, or long lateral frac
- Providing full coverage of the induced frac geometry when used with MSI's custom-designed arrays
- Providing full definition of the 3-D geometry of the induced fractures and relating the fracture growth to time-dependent characteristics such as fluid pump rates.
Delineating reservoir-scale faults or discontinuities
MSI's PSET® technology doesn't suffer from wavelength restrictions common to the active source in conventional reflection seismic mapping, allowing it to provide dynamic imaging of heterogeneous behavior at the reservoir level.
This imaging provides critical reservoir information, which includes:
- Imaging faults that influence reservoir performance by inhibiting flow or providing flow pathways
- Detecting small, pre-existing faults or fractures activated by pressure differentials during production or injection
- Imaging faults or discontinuities that form flow barriers
- Identifying the occurrence of fault creep or failure caused by fluid movement.
Identifying areas of reservoir compaction
As fluids drain from a reservoir, the fluid matrix experiences a pressure drop that may cause the matrix to fail under the weight of the overburden. This creates localized reservoir compaction that produces a rich microseismic energy source. Field-testing has confirmed that hundreds of microseismic events can occur each day in fields where compaction is occurring.
MSI's PSET® arrays can locate these areas of compaction, providing invaluable information regarding drainage areas for individual wells, fault blocks or entire fields without resorting to expensive and risky wellbore solutions.
Monitoring injected fluid fronts
Enhanced hydrocarbon recovery techniques frequently require pumping non-hydrocarbon fluids -water, steam, or CO2- into the reservoir to increase reservoir pressure and drive further oil and gas production. The inflow of this fluid, in conjunction with the outflow of hydrocarbons, creates pressure transients that induce microseismic activity.
MSI's PSET® technology can monitor this activity to give a direct indication of the location of the fluid front. PSET® surveys provide an inexpensive, low-risk, fast and high-quality method for determining the zones of active fluid front advance, both for a one-time picture and on an ongoing basis for long-term monitoring.
Continuously monitoring the reservoir
While a one-time PSET® survey gives a snapshot view of the location of dynamic reservoir events, the full value of PSET® technology is realized through long-term continuous monitoring.
When calibrated to the specific conditions of your reservoir, PSET® technology provides valuable long-term information, including:
- A significantly deeper understanding of the dynamic forces at play within the reservoir
- The ability to conduct history matching of reservoir simulation models
- An ability to reinforce and build on other production monitoring tools used by the asset team
- Access to reservoir information without the need for more invasive and costly methods such as fluid saturation or production logging.
To learn more about microseismic monitoring and Passive Seismic Emission Tomography (PSET™), please contact us.
