VECTA has the Bakken ADVANTAGE
Visos Energy Co., Austin, TX, (in partnership
with the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG) at
The University of Texas at Austin) - Improved 9-
Component Vertical Seismic Profiling
The sand surfaces of the Morrow Trend of
Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas do not
always generate sufficient reflected compressional
(P) wave energy to produce a clear
enough image to define the structural relief
from conventional 3-D seismic interpretation.
However, those Morrow reservoirs that generate
weak P-wave seismic reflections often produce
robust shear (S) wave reflections. The project
operators used a vertical vibrator, an inline horizontal
vibrator, and a crossline horizontal vibrator
to generate and record nine-component vertical
seismic profile (9-C VSP) data. The configuration
generated the three fundamental
wave modes required to define the full vector
properties of a seismic wavefield, the compressional
(P) mode, the horizontal shear (SH)
mode, and the vertical shear (SV) mode. Using
techniques developed at the BEG to correlate P
and S-wave reflection data, the 9-C VSP data
were processed to create P and S-wave images
of the Morrow stratigraphy. The S reflections
were often more robust that the P reflections
and vertical resolution of S-wave images was as
good as the vertical resolution of P-wave
images. Thus surface recorded S-wave data
provide a spatial resolution of Morrow targets
that is equivalent to the resolution achieved
with P-wave surface recorded data in other
reservoirs with good P-wave reflectivity.
Bottom Line: The success of this field
research project has resulted in a new company,
Vecta Technology, L.P. (with whom
Visos Energy Co. merged), to commercialize
this emerging technology. 9-C VSP technology
can be applied to other reservoirs where
P-wave data are inadequate and could result
in the discovery of billions of additional barrels
of oil across the United States.
Vecta Exploration, Inc., Dallas, TX, will test a new shear-wave seismic technology,
designed to locate underground oil-bearing traps often invisible to conventional
seismic technologies, to explore for subtle oil-bearing Mission Canyon oolitic limestone
reservoirs in the Williston Basin of Mountrail and McLean Counties, ND.
The concept employs all four types of shock waves generated in a seismic survey,
the compressional P-wave plus the three other major types of shock waves, the
horizontal shear SH-wave, the vertical shear SV-wave, and the converted shear Cwave,
to image and identify elusive stratigraphic traps.
Vecta Exploration, Inc., Dallas, TX, will complete a
shear wave seismic study using data obtained
from a well in Clark County, KS, documenting the
imaging quality, costs, and potential benefits of
combining shear (S) wave and compressional (P)
wave seismic data. Conventional 3D seismic sur
surveys use only P-wave data which is sufficient to
identify the shape of a subsurface structure.
However, successful drilling often depends not
only on the shape of the structure, but on locating
rock fractures, detecting porosity trends, and
locating subtle areas of trapped oil. Combining Swave
with P-wave data can provide a more complete
geologic “picture” of potential subsurface oil
and gas bearing formations.
https://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/publications/brochures/Techdevind.pdf