Microseismic technology has been proven to
be a practical approach for in-situ monitoring of fracture growth during hydraulic fracture stimulations.
Microseismic monitoring has rapidly evolved in acquisition methodology, data
processing, and in this paper, we evaluate the progression of this technology
with emphasis on their applications in Barnett shale gas reservoir. Microseismic
data analysis indicates a direct proportion between microseismic moment
magnitude and depth, yet no relation between microseismic activity and either
injection rate or injection volume has been observed. However, large
microseismic magnitudes have been recorded where hydraulic fracturing
stimulation approaches a fault and therefore the geologic framework should be
integrated in such programs. In addition, the geometry of fracture growth
resulted by proppant interactions with naturally fractured formations follows
unpredictable fashion due to redirecting the injection fluids along flow paths
associated with the pre-existing fault network in the reservoir. While microseismic
imaging is incredibly useful in revealing the fracture geometry and the way the
fracture evolves, recently several concerns have been raised regarding the
capability of microseismic data to provide the fracture dimensional parameters
and the fracture mechanism that could provide detailed information for
reservoir characterization.
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