Participants’ profile 

The course is designed for Geologists, Geophysicists and geoscientists who would like to get an understanding of VSP principles and various applications.

Pre-requisites 

Basic understanding of Geology and geophysics including signal processing and geophysical operations (surface and downhole)

Course Schedule

Time	Topic	Learning Objectives	Assessment Method/Content	Duration
08:00 - 08:15	Course opening	Identify what you will learn during the course	PPT with overarching objectives	15 mins
08:15 - 09:30	VSP basics	General overview, geophysical principles and different VSP geometries	PPT and examples	75 mins
09:30 - 10:10	VSP data acquisition	Surface/downhole equipment and operational considerations	PPT and examples + Q&A	40 mins
10:10 - 10:20	Break			10 mins
10:20 - 11:00	Velocity survey	Data pre-conditioning for first break picking. Identify limits of absolute T-D based on well geometry and geology	PPT and exercise	40 mins
11:00 - 11:45	VSP modelling	Practical pre-survey design and evaluation, Ray tracing modelling	Software demo and spreadsheet exercise	45 mins
11:45 - 12:00	Wrap up day 1 (morning)	Recap key learnings	Q&A	15 mins
13:00 - 13:45	1-C VSP processing	Single component Processing sequence	PPT with overarching objectives	45 mins
13:45 - 14:15	High angle wells	Implications with highly deviated wells and non zero offset VSP	PPT, examples and case histories	30 mins
14:15 - 14:55	Lookahead VSP and SWD	Estimate predict ahead of the bit and use of SWD in drilling applications	PPT, examples and case histories	40 mins
14:55 - 15:05	Break			10 mins
15:05 - 15:45	VSP imaging	How to use VSP for 2D/3D imaging and pros/cons of VSP as an imaging tool	PPT, examples and case histories	40 mins
15:45 - 16:45	Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS)	DAS principles and technology for seismic applications. Technology evolution	PPT, examples and case histories	60 mins
16:45 - 17:00	Wrap up/close out	10 things you should know		15 mins

Participants’ profile 

The course is designed for users and practitioners in microseismic monitoring.

Course Outline: 

1. Introduction: Definitions, a brief review of microseismicity outside of oil industry: water reservoirs, mining, geothermal, CO2 sequestration. Microseismicity and induced seismicity by reservoir production.Historical review of microseismicity in energy industry with focus on hydraulic fracturing (Basel, Soultz, M-site, Cotton Valley, Barnett,etc). Principles of the hydraulic fracturing and geomechanics. Goal of microseismic monitoring and options to meet them.

2. Earthquake seismology: number of unknowns, differences be-tween active and passive seismic. Receivers - how to select optimal type of sensors to meet our goals. Absolute location, relative location. P- and S-wave polarizations. Frequency content of microseismic data. Finite source. Earthquake magnitudes.

3. Downhole monitoring: single well monitoring technique - S-P wave time + P-wave polarization technique location. Horizontal monitoring borehole. Picking strategies for downhole montoring. Optimal design of downhole monitoring array. Orientation of down-hole geophones. Velocity model building and calibration. Inclined/dual and multi well monitoring.

4. Surface monitoring: P-wave location from surface: depth vs. ori-gin time. Detection uncertainty and signal-to-noise ratio. Frequency content, attenuation and detection. Design of surface monitoring array. Calibration and velocity model building. Relative locations:using S-waves recorded at the surface monitoring array. Case study comparing the downhole and surface locations. Why surface micro-seismic monitoring works, near surface attenuation.

5. Source mechanisms: concept of source mechanism, definition of dip, strike and rake for shear source. Description of shear, tensile, volumetric, CLVD components of source mechanism. Inversion for source mechanisms from single monitoring borehole, multiple monitoring boreholes surface P-wave only data. Radiation pattern of source mechanisms frequently seen in microseismic monitoring.Source mechanisms and stress orientation.

6. Advanced source parametrization: Magnitude: definition and de-termination, seismic energy, b-values and magnitude of completness, physical liminations of b-values, stress drop, source dimensions.

7. Anisotropy: Introduction to anisotropy. Effect of anisotropic media on S-waves: shear wave splitting. Shear wave splitting observed in microseismic data. Inversion of anisotropic media from P- andS-waves using microseismic events, time lapse changes. Anisotropy and surface monitoring of microseismic events.

8. Reservoir simulations: Current use of microseismicity in oil industry and implementation of microseismicity into modeling. Diffusion model for pressure triggering of microseismic events. Non-linear diffusion and mass balance. Discrete Fracture Networks constrained by microseismicity. Reservoir simulations and history matching.

9. Seismicity in the vicinity of energy exploration. History of felt seismicity related to oil and gas industry. Differentiation of natural and induced seismicity. Seismic moment and total injected volume.Blackpool case study as an example of induced seismicity. Oklahoma and DFW seismicity - natural seismicity? Hazard assessment and mitigation. Social aspects related to development of shale gas.

10. Review of recent research effort and case studies in microseismicity. Models of relationship between microseismicity and hydraulic fracturing. Most important things to remember about microseismicity.

Course Schedule: