ESG Solutions, an industry leader in microseismic technology and services, has announced the successful installation of a permanent microseismic acquisition system near Bakersfield, California. The system, consisting of multiple, time-synchronized downhole geophone arrays and surface acquisition units, will be used to monitor hydraulic fracturing and waterflood operations in a diatomite formation.

 

Diatomite is a low permeability, oil-bearing formation that benefits from enhanced oil recovery methods. "In these operations, fracturing processes that occur in the reservoir can lead to unexpected movement of the injection fluid and/or hydrocarbon within the reservoir," says Ted Urbancic, executive vice-president of Global Energy Services at ESG. "Understanding these processes using microseismic analysis helps to optimize reservoir treatments and can provide some measure of safety during stimulation."

 

Operators near Bakersfield are also taking advantage of powerful software tools such as ESG's SeisAlert to provide real-time alerting in the event of abnormal fracture growth, compromised well casing integrity or larger magnitude induced seismicity.

 

Originally developed for use in the mining industry, SeisAlert continuously evaluates microseismic data against pre-determined thresholds for added surveillance of the reservoir and in the event of abnormal seismicity, automatically dispatches communications notifying operators.

 

ESG has been monitoring seismicity in California's diatomite for nearly 10 years. "This most recent installation brings the number of permanent ESG systems in California to over 10," says Urbancic. "We are pleased that our technology is helping many operators improve completion effectiveness and reservoir management."

 

With extensive microseismic experience in complex reservoirs such as diatomite, ESG attributes part of its success in the formation to advanced multi-well acquisition and analysis that uniquely provides operators with in-depth assessment of reservoir behaviour during production and/or injection activities.