%0 Journal Article
%T Using Microseismicity to Estimate Formation Permeability for Geological Storage of CO2
%A D. A. Angus
%A J. P. Verdon
%J ISRN Geophysics
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/160758
%X We investigate two approaches for estimating formation permeability based on microseismic data. The two approaches differ in terms of the mechanism that triggers the seismicity: pore-pressure triggering mechanism and the so-called seepage-force (or effective stress) triggering mechanism. Based on microseismic data from a hydraulic fracture experiment using water and supercritical CO2 injection, we estimate permeability using the two different approaches. The microseismic data comes from two hydraulic stimulation treatments that were performed on two formation intervals having similar geological, geomechanical, and in situ stress conditions, yet different injection fluid was used. Both approaches (pore-pressure triggering, and the seepage-force triggering) provide estimates of permeability within the same order of magnitude. However, the seepage-force mechanism (i.e., effective stress perturbation) provides more consistent estimates of permeability between the two different injection fluids. The results show that permeability estimates using microseismic monitoring have strong potential to constrain formation permeability limitations for large-scale CO2 injection. 1. Introduction Fracture stimulation has been applied for the past 60 years to enhance recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs, with an estimated 70% of wells being fracture stimulated, and hence is a key factor in the economic exploitation of unconventional reserves, such as tight-gas and shale-gas reservoirs [1]. Over the past 20 years, microseismic monitoring has developed into one of the most effective methods of monitoring fracture stimulation and hence is routinely applied to monitor fracture stimulation programs. The spatial and temporal variations in microseismicity can be used to monitor changes in the stress field and hence potentially be used to monitor perturbations in fluid pathways as well as top-seal and well-bore integrity. Furthermore, microseismicity has been used also to characterise spatial and temporal variations within the reservoir and surrounding rock mass by monitoring changes in seismic attributes between the source and receiver (e.g., shear-wave splitting analysis to characterise fracture-induced anisotropy [2¨C4]). Additional information can be gained by evaluating microseismic failure mechanisms to characterise the rock mass at the source and provide a measure of the strength, orientation, and type of elastic failure to potentially quantify damage (e.g., [5¨C7]). Although microseismicity can provide fairly accurate temporal and spatial locations of brittle failure, how
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.geophysics/2013/160758/