Publication Abstract

not signed in
Log In
Title Enhanced Imaging of Hydraulic Fracturing through Induced Seismicity

Authors Pettitt, W.S. Reyes-Montes, J.M. Andrews, J.R. Young, R.P.

Publication Reference Proceedings of the 44th US Rock Mechanics Symposium and 5th U.S.-Canada Rock Mechanics Symposium, Salt Lake City, June 27–30, 2010.

Abstract Hydrofracture stimulations are widely used to optimize production volumes and extraction rates in petroleum reservoirs, enhanced geothermal systems and preconditioning operations in block-caving mines. Microseismic monitoring is now becoming a standard tool for evaluating the geometry and evolution of the fracture network induced during a given treatment, principally by source locating microseismic hypocenters and visualizing these with respect to the treatment volume and infrastructure. Real-time processing can provide feed-back of this information during the treatment operations if the processing algorithms are both efficient and accurate, which are highly dependent on the signal-to-noise characteristics of the recorded data and complexities in the local monitoring conditions, geomechanics of the monitored volume and the hydrofracture treatment conditions. Enhanced Microseismic Imaging provides increased resolution, greater processing efficiency and meaningful interpretations of the induced fracture network by using more efficient processing algorithms and seismic source parameters. We illustrate how the fracture network can be imaged using these techniques and provide meaningful results that can be fed back to investigate and engineer the fracture structure induced by the hydraulic stimulation.

Key Figure

Link http://www.armasymposium.org/program.html



Return to publications list

< Return to the home page   ::  Contact Us
Applied Seismology Consultants