Presenter: Peter M. Duncan, Ph.D. – Founder & CoChairman, MicroSeismic, Inc.
Date: January 19, 2016
Title: Seeking Real Value From Microseismic Monitoring | Early Appraisal of Unconventional Well Performance Using Microseismic Data
Description: At every stage in the life of a well, estimates of what that well will recover and how much that might be worth are of primary importance. Before the well is drilled, the subsurface team uses the best G&G data available to forecast the value of the well and justify it being drilled. As the well is being drilled we anxiously watch the logs and cuttings to get hints on whether our predictions will bear out. After completion, we watch the IP as the well unloads hoping to see numbers that validate the prediction. In reality, all these are weak and highly uncertain indicators. We have to wait for 6 to 12 months of production history to really know how the well is going to perform over its life. In the meantime, we continue to drill more wells in an area that perhaps should be downgraded, we continue to complete wells with perhaps a less than optimal design and we continue to space wells based on a drainage model that may not be correct.
Microseismic data, that is the location of the microseismic events generated as the stimulation proceeds, have been used by the completion engineers to “watch” what is happening at the reservoir and confirm that the completion is going as planned. Various methods of mapping the extent of the microseismic cloud have been used to estimate the volume of stimulated rock (SRV) as a predictor of how the well will perform. Unfortunately SRV or the propped fraction of it alone are not reliable predictors of production since the amount of permeability enhancement within the SRV and its distribution are key to effective drainage of the hydrocarbons present.
Recent work has shown that microseismic data can also provide an insitu, real-time estimate of the permeability enhancement resulting from the treatment and its distribution over the SRV. This allows for an improved appraisal of the well within days of it being completed, without waiting months for production data. The workflow has been validated with long-term history matching to production.
The workflow and its output are the subject of this webcast.