Electroseismic surveying in exploration and production environments

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9239397-B2
Application number	US-201414513002-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2014
Priority date	Oct 14, 2013
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer programs for monitoring a drilling operation in a subterranean formation include receiving, from a first sensor array, one or more signals caused, at least in part, by the fracturing operation in the subterranean formation; receiving, from the first sensor array, one or more electromagnetic signals generated by an electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the seismic signals caused, at least in part, by the fracturing operation in the subterranean formation; and determining a property of one or more of a fracture or the subterranean formation based, at least in part, at least in part, on the signals received from the first sensor array. The first sensor array is arranged to monitor the fracturing operation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for monitoring a fracturing operation in a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
receiving, from a first sensor array, one or more signals caused, at least in part, by the fracturing operation in the subterranean formation;
receiving, from the first sensor array, one or more electromagnetic signals generated by an electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the seismic signals caused, at least in part, by the fracturing operation in the subterranean formation;
determining a property of one or more of a fracture or the subterranean formation based, at least in part, at least in part, on the signals received from the first sensor array; and
wherein the first sensor array is arranged to monitor the fracturing operation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a property of one or more of the fracture or the subterranean formation based, at least in part, at least in part, on the signals received from the first sensor array further comprises:
determining one or both of a fracture orientation and extent.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a property of one or more of the fracture or the subterranean formation based, at least in part, at least in part, on the signals received from the first sensor array further comprises:
determining a density of a fracture that is induced by the fracturing operation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor array comprises a plurality of seismic sensors and a plurality of electromagnetic sensors.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sensor array comprises a plurality of geophones.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from a second array of one more sensors, signals generated by the subterranean formation in response background noise or infrastructure noise; and
removing at least some noise from the signals from the first sensor array, based, at least in part on the signals received from the second array of one or more sensors.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
receiving, from a third sensor array, one or more electromagnetic signals generated by an electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the seismic signals caused, at least in part, by the fracturing operation in the subterranean formation;
wherein the third set of sensor are located apart from the first sensor array; and
further wherein determining one or both of a fracturing orientation and extent is further based, at least in part, on the received electromagnetic signals from the third sensor array.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
performing a cross-correlation between signals from two sensors in one or more of the first sensor array, the second sensor array, and the third sensor array.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
performing an auto-correlation on at least one signal from one sensor in one of the first sensor array, the second sensor array, and the third sensor array.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining a property of one or more of a fracture or the subterranean formation based, at least in part, at least in part, on the signals received from the first sensor array, further comprises:
applying one or more filters to the signals received from the first sensor array to separate one or more surface waves from one or more seismic waves.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein applying one or more filters to the signals received from the first sensor array to separate one or more surface waves from one or more seismic waves, further comprises:
applying one or more velocity filters to the signals received from the first sensor array to separate one or more surface waves from one or more seismic waves.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein applying one or more filters to the signals received from the first sensor array to separate one or more surface waves from one or more seismic waves, further comprises:
applying one or more spatial filters to the signals received from the first sensor array to separate one or more surface waves from one or more seismic waves.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
altering the fracturing operation based, at least in part, on the determined one or both of a fracturing orientation and extent.

14. A method for monitoring a fracturing operation in a subsurface formation, comprising:
receiving, at a time before the fracturing operation, first survey data from a first sensor array;
receiving, at a time after the fracturing operation, second survey data from the first sensor array;
processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine one or more properties of the fracturing operation of subsurface earth formation; and
wherein the first survey data and second survey data include signals generated by a subsurface earth formation in response to a passive-source electromagnetic signal, wherein the electromagnetic signal is generated by an electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the passive-source electromagnetic signal;
wherein the passive-source electromagnetic signal includes the earth's natural electromagnetic field and wherein the processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine the one or more properties of the subsurface formation is based, at least in part, on a correlation of the earth's electromagnetic field and the electromagnetic signal generated by the electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the earth's natural electromagnetic field.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine one or more properties of the fracturing operation of subsurface earth formation, further comprises:
determining one or both of a fracture extent and orientation.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine one or more properties of the fracturing operation of subsurface earth formation, further comprises:
determining a density of a fracture in the subsurface formation.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine one or more properties of the fracturing operation of subsurface earth formation, further comprises:
determining one or both of a porosity or permeability of a fracture in the subsurface formation.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine one or more properties of the fracturing operation of subsurface earth formation, further comprises:
determining one or both of a fracturing extent and orientation.

19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving, at a second time after the fracturing operation, third survey data from the first sensor array; and
processing the second survey data and the third survey data to determine one or more properties of the fracturing operation of subsurface earth formation;
wherein the third survey data includes signals generated by a subsurface earth formation in response to a passive-source electromagnetic signal, wherein the electromagnetic signal is generated by an electroseismic or seismoelectric conversion of the passive-source electromagnetic signal;
wherein the passive-source electromagnetic signal includes the earth's natural electromagnetic field and wherein the processing the first survey data and the second survey data to determine the one or more properties of the subsurface formation is based, at least in part, on a correlation of the earth's electromagnetic f

Assignees

• Thompson Arthur
• Katz Alan
• England Robert
• Benson Todd W
• Griffin Mark
• Hunt Energy Entpr Llc

Inventors

• Thompson Arthur
• Katz Alan
• England Robert
• Benson Todd W
• Griffin Mark

Classifications

• G01V2210/6244

  Porosity · CPC title

• G01V1/40

  specially adapted for well-logging · CPC title

• G01V2210/62

  Physical property of subsurface · CPC title

• G01V2210/624

  Reservoir parameters · CPC title

• G01V2210/32

  Noise reduction · CPC title