Imaging of subsurface faults by walkaway VSP waveguiding

D. R. Pant; I. M. Mason; S. A. Greenhalgh

doi:10.1071/EG991291

ISSN: 0812-3985
E-ISSN: 1834-7533

Imaging of subsurface faults by walkaway VSP waveguiding
Authors D. R. Pant^a, I. M. Mason^b and S. A. Greenhalgh^a
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^a School of Earth SciencesFlinders University of South Australia, G.P.O. Box 2100 Adelaide, , S.A, . 5001 ^b Department of Engineering ScienceUniversity of Oxford, Parks Rd, Oxford 0X1 3PJ, U.K.
Publisher: Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Source: Exploration Geophysics, Volume 22, Issue 2, Jun 1991, p. 291 - 294
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/EG991291
- Published online: 01 Jun 1991

Abstract

Hydrocarbon reservoirs sometimes occur within low velocity channels, thus forming potential seismic waveguides. The waveguide might be excited at its discontinuities (faults) by seismic waves travelling downward from a surface source. Given that a waveguide would confine scattered energy to the horizontal plane, it should be possible to map fault scatterers at large range by means of a downhole triaxial geophone placed within the reservoir.

A simple laboratory scale seismic model of a Southern North Sea gas reservoir was constructed to study the problem. Multicomponent seismic measurements were taken in both walkaway VSP and offset VSP shooting geometries. The results validate the presence of strong waveguiding in a low velocity layer disrupted by faulting. The diffracted arrivals can be imaged to locate the fault ‘source’. The model results, when scaled to the field situation, suggest that faults within a reservok can be detected at horizontal distances greater than several kilometres from the drill hole.

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1991-06-01

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References

Ahmed, H., Dillon, P. B., Johnstad, S. E., and Johnston, C. D., (1986). ‘Northern Viking Graben multilevel three-component walkaway VSPs—Ma case history’, First Break4(10), 9-27.
Krey, T. C, (1963). ‘Channel waves as a tool of applied geophysics in coal mining’, Geophysics28, 701-714.
Mason, I. M., Jackson, C. M., Lee, D., and Campbell, D. S., (1990). ‘Fault proximity surveys in the Southern North Sea’, Expanded Abstracts, 60th Annual International SEG Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, September 23-27, 270-273.
Noble, M. D., Lambert, R. A., Ahmed, H., and Lyons, J., (1988). ‘The application of three component VSP data on the interpretation of the Vulcan Gas Field and its impact on field development’, First Break6(5), 131-149.
Pant, D. R., Greenhalgh, S. A., and Watson, S., (1988). ‘Seismic reflection scale model facility’, Explor. Geophys. 19(4), 499-512.
Van der Poel, N. J., and Cassell, B. R., (1989). ‘Borehole seismic surveys for fault delineation in the Dutch North Sea’, Geophysics54, 1091-1100.

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Article Type: Research Article

Keyword(s): fault mapping; hydrocarbon reservoirs; multicomponent physical seismic modelling; waveguide

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Imaging of subsurface faults by walkaway VSP waveguiding

Abstract

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