Natural Fracture Characterization Using Passive Seismic Illumination

The presence of natural fractures in reservoir rock can significantly enhance gas production, especially in tight gas formations. Any general knowledge of the existence, location, orientation, spatial density, and connectivity of natural fractures, as well as general reservoir structure, that can be obtained prior to active seismic acquisition and drilling can be exploited to identify key areas for subsequent higher resolution active seismic imaging. Current practices for estimating fracture properties before the acquisition of surface seismic data are usually based on the assumed geology and tectonics of the region, and empirical or fracture mechanics-based relationships between stratigraphic curvature and fracturing. The objective of this research is to investigate the potential of multicomponent surface sensor arrays, and passive seismic sources in the form of local earthquakes to identify and characterize potential fractured gas reservoirs located near seismically active regions. To assess the feasibility of passive seismic fracture detection and characterization, we have developed numerical codes for modeling elastic wave propagation in reservoir structures containing multiple, finite-length fractures. This article describes our efforts to determine the conditions for favorable excitation of fracture converted waves, and to develop an imaging method that can be used to locate and characterize fractures using multicomponent, passive seismic data recorded on a surface array.