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3D Relocation Errors of Microseismic Events by Surface and Borehole Receivers for Shale Gas Stimulation
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 76th EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2014, Jun 2014, Volume 2014, p.1 - 5
Abstract
Summary
In this study, we examine the microseismic event location errors associated with a frac job in Saudi Arabia. This was accomplished by examining a realistic surface and borehole array geometry and a realistic seismic velocity model to attain reliable hypocentral estimates, for either surface or borehole microseismic surveys, a detailed 3D velocity model for both P- and S- waves is needed. Vesnaver et al. (2010) demonstrated that the joint inversion of surface and borehole data may provide a far superior tomographic image of the reservoir, even when it is thin. Menanno et al. (2013) showed that borehole receiver orientation must allow for 3D inhomogeneities and ray bending; otherwise, the errors in the hypocentre coordinate become relevant, if the wave polarization is used to estimate the hypocentre direction. In this paper we quantify the relocation errors in three synthetic models that mimic a real experiment performed in Saudi Arabian shale stimulation. In this study, we examine key items such as the accuracy in the time origin estimation, the Earth model complexity and the surface-vs-borehole recording geometry.
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