Microseismic frac mapping : moving beyond the dots from an engineering perspective.

              MicroseismicFracMapping: Moving Beyond the Dots from an Engineering Perspective
Jeff Noe
MicroSeismic, Inc.
Chief EngineerThe University of OklahomaMEWBOURNE COLLEGE OF EARTH & ENERGY
ShalesMoving Forward
Moore Norman Technology CenterNorman, OklahomaJuly 21, 2011Outline
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Microseismic101
A glance in the rear view mirror
The engineer’s fracture diagnostics toolbox
Why engineer’s use microseismicmonitoring
Microseismictechnology advancements
“Unconventionals” have changed the game
What’s missing? –Moving Beyond the Dots
Value addition opportunities
What’s Next?Microseismic101
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Practice of listening to passive, microseismicactivity caused by hydraulic fracturing(reservoir subsidence, and water, steam, or CO2 injection or sequestration).
Microseisms are seismic energy emissions generated by shear slippages along weakness planes in the earth
Passive Imaging is seismic without sources –receivers only
Passive Imaging
Objective:
•Detect and locate microseismic events in time and space.
•Measure characteristics of events (magnitude, source mechanism, etc. )
•Provide diagnostic information about the hydraulic fracture
Surface Array
DownholeArray
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▼A Glance in the Rearview Mirror
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1860–Nitroglycerin injection used to stimulate shallow oil well in Pennsylvania (precursor to fracing?)
1947 -StanolindOil conducted the first experimental fracturing in the Hugoton field located in southwestern Kansas. The treatment utilized napalm (gelled gasoline) and sand from the Arkansas River. (1)
1949 -Halliburton conducted the first two commercial hydraulic fracturing treatments in Oklahoma (1)
1950’s through 1980’s –Numerous hydraulic fracturing pumping and diagnostics technology developments
1992-Pinnacle Technologies introduced surface tilt fracmapping
Late 1990’s and early 2000’s –Pinnacle Technologies introduced downholetilt and microseismicfracmapping
2003-MicroSeismic, Inc. introduced surface microseismicfracmapping
2008-MicroSeismic, Inc. introduced BuriedArray™ microseismicfracmapping
Over 1.1 million hydraulic fracture stimulation jobs in the past 6 decades
Less than 2% of these jobs monitored using fracmapping technology(1) SPE JPT, December 2010; Hydraulic Fracturing –The Fuss, The Facts, The FutureThe Engineer’s Fracture Diagnostics Toolbox
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5Why engineer’s use microseismicmonitoring
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Diagnostic tool to better understand hydraulic fracture geometry
•Length
•Height
•Azimuth
•Complexity
Identify patterns of hydraulic fracture development
•Zonal containment or lack thereof
•Well to well or stage to stage overlap
Geohazardavoidance
Estimate stimulated reservoir volume
Fracture treatment refinement
Long-term field development optimization
Map View
Depth ViewZone breakoutTechnology Advancements -Downhole
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•Stacked arrays
•Expanded arrays
•Fiber-optic wirelineTechnology Advancements -Surface
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•Array TypeSurface
•Duration Temporary
•Coverage area~3 to 7 Sq. Miles
•CapabilitiesFracMonitoring
FracStar® Array
FracStar®
1000+ channels of 1-C geophone strings, 6 phones per string
Radial FracStar® array, 8-14 armsTechnology Advancements –Buried Array™
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BuriedArray™
•Array TypeSub-Surface
•Duration Permanent
•Coverage areaHundreds of Sq. Miles
•CapabilitiesFracMonitoringReservoir Monitoring
•Buried50-300’
Up to 300 ftCuttings
BentoniteCementTechnology Advancements -Processing
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Improved event detection capability and location accuracy
Detailed source analyses –better understanding of how rock is breakingTechnology Advancements –Visualization
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11Well and Events
Discrete Fracture Network
Stimulated Reservoir Volume
•Layered permeability distribution
•Average fracture aperture -ft
•Average fracture porosity -unitless
•Total fracture volume (ft3) –sum of fracture volumes in the model
•Stimulated reservoir volume (ft3) –volume of geocellularcubes that have fracture properties (the affected rock matrix)Unconventionalsare Changing The Game
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Barnett widespread development began in 2003. Horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing were the key enablers. Other unconventional plays followed on the heels of the Barnett at a rapid pace.Unconventionalsare Changing The Game
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137/8/11 Update:US Land –1854Horizontal –1073% of total -58Unconventionalsare Changing The Game
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•~ 450% increase in pumping capacity since 2003
•Still growing at ~ 20-25% per yearThe New Landscape -Unconventionals© 2011 MicroSeismic. All Rights Reserved. 15
Almost exclusively HW’s
Almost all wells require hydraulic fracturing
Long laterals (up to 10,000’)
More fracstages per lateral (>30)
•Plug and perfcapabilities extended
•Packer and sleeve systems enhanced
High rate (>100 bpm), large volume (> 100,000 bbls/well), high proppanttonnage (> 4,000,000 lbs/well) fracs
24 hour fracoperations (30+ stages/24 hrs)
“Factory” style multi-well pads and innovative fracsequencing
•Zipper fracs
•Simultaneous fracs
Result is significantly more data at a much faster pace
Operators (and service providers) are overwhelmedLarge fracspreads“Factory” Style multi-well padsMicroseismicFracMapping –Beyond the Dots
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Engineers are asking:
•What Does it Mean?
•How does it relate to production?
•What needs to be changed?
Determination of individual well fracture geometries , well orientation and well spacing requirements are no longer enough
Must view and analyze as a “system”
Engineers want an integrated solution:
•Subsurface
oGeophysics
oGeology
oPetrophysics
oGeomechanics
•Completion
•Treatment
•Microseismic
•ProductionView as System, not just individual wellsValue Addition Opportunity Model
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Value
Enhanced Engineering Analysis and Content
Well and Stage Interaction Evaluation
FracModelingReservoir Simulation
Statistical DiscoveryParticularly importantfor “factory” style multi-well pad applications
•Microseismicdata in fracmodels
•Net pressure behavior and relationship to microseismicand production results
•Use to help calibrate DFN/SRV models
•Subsurface
•Completion
•Pumping
•Microseismic
•Production
•Microseismicdata in simulators
•Use to help calibrate DFN/SRV models
•Technical database
•Multivariate statistical analysis
•ID cause-and-effect relationships
•Key drivers for improved well and reservoir performance What’s Ahead
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Continued R&D on event characterization to improve understanding of how the rock is breaking
Improved understanding of “created” versus “effective” fracture geometry –“Where is the proppant?”
Better understanding of how fracture geometry evolves during a treatment
•Are we reactivating pre-existing fractures or creating new fractures or both?
•Which is more prevalent?
•How are stress changes that occur during fracture treatments driving and/or rerouting the fractures?
Better understanding of the connectivity and flow properties of the hydraulic fracture network What’s Ahead
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•Reservoir Monitoring
•Production, Haynesville
•SAGD, Alberta
•Water injection, Saudi Arabia
•Compaction, North Sea
•Production, North Sea
•Cyclic Steam Injection, Alberta
•CO2Injection, Wyoming
•Gas Injection, Dubai
•Earthquake Monitoring
•Environmental Monitoring
•Integration ofactive and passive seismic
Unconventional ReservoirFinal Thoughts
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“The wise man must remember that while he is a descendant of the past, he is a parent of the future.” ~ Herbert Spencer
“You can’t have one foot in yesterday or one foot in tomorrow; you have to keep both feet in today and that’s how you get to tomorrow. “ ~ John Wooden