Speaker Abstracts
February, 2008
Looking for Gas in all the Tight Places
Tom Davis, Professor of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines
Abstract
What role, if any, geophysics can play in tight gas exploration and production? In applying time-lapse, multicomponent seismic data at Rulison Field, Piceance Basin, Colorado the answer may surprise you. We have been able to monitor pressure depletion in this resource and that has enabled us to look in all the tight places. By using time-lapse seismic data we can probe the rock mass. And their interaction with hydraulic fractures is complex. By monitoring this interaction through pressure depletion we can start to understand the fractures by seeing how they change over time. Identifying the fractured rock mass as it changes enables us to identify drainage and connectivity thereby enabling us to do better job of “sweeping” the reservoir and finding bypass pay.
Time-lapse multicomponent seismology allows us to monitor pressure. By monitoring pressure changes we can tell what parts of the reservoir are being drained and what aren’t. This helps us avoid costly well completions into zones that are already connected and helps us target new wells or re-completions into zones that aren’t. In doing so we can better locate and stimulate our wells. By monitoring pressure change with time-lapse muilticomponent seismology we can optimize tight gas resource development.
