You have business objectives and available budget in place to conduct a microseismic survey on your next frac job, now all you need is to find an appropriate vendor to provide you with the service. Here are four top qualifiers that you need to take into consideration when it comes to selecting a microseismic vendor for your project.
1. Equipment
Crucial to any microseismic survey is the equipment used to run the survey. In traditional microseismic acquisitions the sensors are some type of geophones/seismometer either deployed downhole or on surface. Inherently the sensitivity and the bandwidth of the geophones have a significant role on the recorded signal quality and strength which then in turn affect the resultant microseismic attributes. Testing and maintenance of the equipment on the regular basis is also critical to ensure recording high data quality and efficient deployment.
For example, for a downhole microseismic monitoring you need to know:
- Wireline characteristics such as history, length, and strength
- Deployability of the sensor arrays based on wellbore specifications
- Whip connectors for extended interconnect (minimum 600 ft)
- Digitization at the sensor (minimum 4kHz) with continuous recording
- Different sensor types with sensitivity charts
- Intra-sensor spacing capabilities and evidence of seal integrity
- Clamping/coupling mechanism for improved vector fidelity
- Functionality in high temperature
- Tool maintenance program with evidence of post- and pre-acquisition scheduled equipment testing
- Integration capability with broadband sensors
2. Deployment
You have to make sure the vendor has the ability to deploy different configurations (multi-array, vertical, horizontal, surface) that itself depends on the region/pad in which the survey is conducted. Having a large number and successful projects in the basin wherein the frac job is conducted usually is a good sign. Ask about possible/previous deployment failures in their systems, the downtime associated with those failures, and how they resolved the issue.
3. Operations
Realtime microseismic acquisition provides you with a wealth of knowledge of the deformation caused by hydraulic fractures within the reservoir in real-time as the project is happening. So, it is important that the vendor has proven operational experience. They must be prepared for any tool/system failure that comes their way and perform smoothly under pressure. Data streaming capabilities and effective automated real-time processing is another side of this equation. At the end of the day as an operator you need to make sure you have QC metrics in place that helps you distinguish reliable from unreliable results which you received from the microseismic vendor.
4. Data Analytics and Integrated Interpretation
You want to make sure the vendor has the in-house technical competency to process the acquired data for microseismic attributes (including but not limited to location and associated errors, magnitude, stress release, energy, moment tensor solutions) and provides you with QC statistics so you know what part of the data can be trusted and used in the advanced analytics and integrated interpretation workflows.
The vendor shall have the ability to slice and dice the data and provide you with insights that are applicable to your project and worth your investment (time and budget). The larger number of projects the vendor had in the target Basin/Formation is valuable as they will be able to provide you with collective insight before and after project completion. Making sure you will be provided with information that are relevant and actionable in a timely manner is very important.
Don’t settle for data dumps.
Ted Urbancic, Scientific Advisor
If you need more details on any of the qualifiers discussed in this article contact us, we would be more than happy to help. Subscribe to our mailing list for more technical tips and tricks.