On the Potential of Multi-Component Vertical Seismic Profiling to Monitor CO2 Storage

We simulate wavefield within a VSP survey geometry for a simple geological model containing a fluid-filled cased or uncased borehole, subjected to a vertical incident P wave of two different central frequencies. We interpret the hydrophone, radial displacement and vertical strain along the borehole. We demonstrate that multicomponent measurements can detect and differentiate small changes (e.g. CO2 saturation) and defects (cement degradation) along wells by jointly interpreting acoustic waves within the borehole (i.e., tube waves) together with elastic waves along cased wells. Therefore, we recommend using geophone or DOFS data together with hydrophone data to interrogate well integrity.