Technical Committee Earth Sciences

Utilisation of seismoacoustic monitoring in tight gas reservoirs - Literature study

This literature study on the utilisation of seismoacoustic monitoring in tight gas reservoirs investigates the following subjects:

- Relevant reported cases of seismoacoustic monitoring
- Mechanisms of microseismicity
- Data processing and visualisation methods and software
- Interpretation approaches
- Feasibility and advantages of frac-monitoring in tight gas reservoirs
- Feasibility and benefits of monitoring for reservoir characterisation

Focus was on two main applications:
a) seismoacoustic monitoring for describing hydrofracturing within tight gas reservoirs,
b) permanent seismic installation for monitoring of production- and injection-related processes (e.g., fluid front movements) in oil/gas reservoirs.

Major outcome of the study is the listing of the benefits of a seismic monitoring, as well as an estimation of the constraints of feasibility. For four monitoring scenarios in tight gas reservoirs, benefits and feasibility were evaluated. A conclusion with recommendations (technology, installation, data handling, in-terpretation) for the utilisation of seismoacoustic monitoring in tight gas reservoirs was drawn.