PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Review
In this topic the student is introduced to the main techniques used in the
geological assessment of potential petroleum reservoirs.

Content
Introduction
Exploration means studying the magic five to decide whether or not these are satisfied
in a particular area. If the conditions are satisfied, petroleum should be found
subsurface, although this is never guaranteed. During the exploration phase, the best
evaluation is made using all the possible available information, from both surface and
geophysical techniques. Once an area of interest has been identified, drilling of a pilot
well allows the use of a multitude of downhole logging and survey techniques for
formation evaluation.

Surface Exploration Techniques

The two main sources of information initially come from remote sensing data and
previously published geological literature.
Remote sensing data consists of satellite imagery and aerial photography. The World
has been covered many times by satellite imagery and data are readily available. Data
can be manipulated and printed out using a range of colour schemes, with any desired
scale, allowing rocks types and other structures to be identified. The electromagnetic
wavelengths used are not restricted to the visible spectrum. Different wavelengths
penetrate and reflect from within the atmosphere and from surface structures to different
extents.
Simple aerial photography is the oldest remote technique used. A mozaic of
photographs can be assemble to create a detailed image of the area under examination.
Pairs of photographs taken from slightly different view points of the same area can be
viewed stereoscopically to give a three-dimensional picture. Modern stereoscopic
techniques allow for extremely accurate construction of topography with associated spot
heights and contours. Since topography is closely related to subsurface strata this data
can be used directly for geological mapping. The use of visual satelite images has
increased the scope of aerial photography. Stereoscopic imagery is not feasible from
satellite heights, but examination of much larger areas (whole sedimentary basins in one
photo for example) may reveal features that are not visible from lower elevations.
Radar (microwaves) have several advantages over normal photography. Microwaves
penetrate cloud and haze in the atmosphere much more efficiently than light, and
surveys do not need to be carried out in daylight hours. Radar also gives a continuous
survey, rather than a series of photographs, thereby eliminating any complications in
matching together single shots. Radar images can be taken from both planes and
satellites.
Multispectural scanning measures a wide range of wavelengths above the visible
range at once. Data is recorded elctronically and can be transmitted directly from the
satellite, or plane if needed, to the ground. Processing can be extremely complex. The
final output is a photo made up of false colours, with each colour corresponding to a
different reflectivity of one or more wavelengths. This range of wavelengths and

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

processing techniques make for a versatile remote technique. Of course this complexity
also requires care during processing and interpretation.
Following these initial investigations, a geological survey of the area is usually carried
out. A land survey would involve careful mapping, measuring and study of surface
outcrops in order to develop an understanding of the unexposed sections of basinal
strata at depth. This may allow determination of:

the thickness of the succession and thus prediction of organic maturity;

ages and nature of the sediments, ie, are there any potential source and reservoir
beds; what is their porosity and permeability; where in the succession do they
occur;

environments of deposition of the various sedimentary layers to allow prediction

of distribution of source and reservoir in sub-surface;

structure of the beds and presence of anticlines or faults which might offer traps;

petroleum seepages that might indicate a mature source rock at depth.

If exploration is being carried out in an arid area, it is simple to collect rock samples and
gather the above information. However, if the area is covered by vegetation, it may be
necessary to excavate holes or trenches, or to drill shallow wells using a small vehicle
mounted rig. A number of disciplines will be involved in this survey stage:

palaeontologists/palynologists ages of rocks and environments of deposition;

petrographers composition of rocks and changes undergone since diagenesis;

geochemists nature and maturity of source rocks and oils;

petrophysicists porosity and permeability studies.

As most oil exploration today is taking place offshore, traditional onshore surveys,
involving the mapping and measuring of surface outcrops, are less common.
Geophysical techniques are widely used today.

Geophysical Techniques
These provide information about the geology of the subsurface. Three main types of
survey are used:

gravity;

magnetic;

seismic reflection surveys.

Gravity Surveys
Small changes in g, the acceleration due to gravity, are caused by variations in the
density of the rock. Heavy rocks at depth cause g to be higher than it is over less dense
rocks. A gravimeter is used to measure g at close points along a track. In general,
gravity surveys are used to show the broad architecture of a sedimentary basin. Areas
of thick low-density sedimentary layers will appear as negative anomalies and ridges of
dense basement rock show up as positive anomalies. Salt is less dense than most
sediments and therefore often flows up into dome shapes. These petroliferous domes
can be identified and located from gravity maps. Likewise, reefs may be identifiable due
to the difference in density between the light limestone and the surrounding rock. Gravity
surveys are carried out in a grid of survey lines and are regarded as a reconnaissance
tool.

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Magnetic Surveys
Rocks have different magnetic properties and those with high natural magnetism have
minute local effects on the intensity and direction of the Earths magnetic field. These
can be measured in a grid method to show the distribution of magnetic anomalies over
the area of interest. Surveys are usually carried out by air, with a magnetometer carried
by an aircraft flying along survey lines. The strength and sharpness of the magnetic
anomalies is controlled by the depth below surface of magnetic rocks such as igneous
and metamorphics. The prime use of a magnetic survey is therefore to indicate depth to
basement, ie, the total thickness of sediments in the basement, and to locate the major
structural features within it such as intrusions and lava flows.
Magnetic and gravity surveys are cost-effective methods of reconnoitering large areas of
the Earth's surface onshore and offshore before lease acquisition in the early stages of
exploration. Their main use is in defining the limits and scale of sedimentary basins and
the internal distribution of structural highs and lows. Used together, the resulting maps
provide a far more accurate basement assessment than if the techniques are
considered seperately. Due to the increase in computing power (many corrections must
be made in both magnetic and gravity survey raw data) and refinement of scientific
techniques, both techniques have received more interest recently. They are often
combined with seismic reflection surveys. What appears to be a reef on a seismic
survey, for example, may turn out to be a volcanic plug, something which a magnetic
survey would identify. Figure 1 shows a magnetic and gravity survey for Cardigan Bay,
UK, along with some generalised responses to underlying geological structures.
Figure 1. Gravity and Magnetic Responses for Various Geological Features.

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Seismic Reflection Surveys

This is by far the most important geophysical tecnique. It involves echo sounding on the
various sedimentary layers within the basin. The energy of a sound made at the surface
spreads out in all directions from its source, passing into and through adjacent
sedimentary layers. There are 3 types of sound waves to consider:

surface or longitudinal waves will travel along the surface (of limited significance);

P body waves move radially from the source;

S body waves impart a tangential movement, and travel more slowly than P body
waves.

Seismic surveying is largely concerned with P waves. When a wave emanating from the
surface reaches an interface between two different rock types (soft and hard) energy is
reflected back to the surface. Most carries on downwards, some being reflected
(echoed) from the next layer etc. At the surface, a series of reflections after the initial
shock are detected from the successive bed boundaries (Figure 2). The times of the
reflections after the initial shock and their strengths are measured digitally. If the velocity
of travel is known (dependent on rock type), then the depth to the horizons can be
calculated. Figure 3 shows acoustic velocity variations for various rocks.
Figure 2. Sound Reflected and Refracted Through Strata of Differing Acoustic
Velocities.

Refraction is based on the velocity changes as sound passes from one rock type to
another, and is greatly exaggerated in the figure above. Seismic surveying is far more
concerned with reflective paths than refracted ones.
Figure 3. Acoustic Velocity Density Relationships for a Variety of Rocks (after
Gardner et al, 1974).

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

If a series of readings are repeated along a survey line then a 2D picture cross-section
is obtained (Figure 4). The vertical scale is not actually the depth but TWT (two way
travel time). As the velocity is variable, depth conversions are interpretative. In practice,
lines or streamers of receivers (termed geophones on land and hydrophones at sea) are
used for data correlation and accuracy (Figure 5). Moving both the position of the sound
source and the receivers can be used to help correlate data and build an extremely
accurate picture of the area under examination. For example, if the percentage of
energy reflected back is small and it becomes difficult to separate out the genuine signal
from the background noise, the noise can be effectively cancelled out by doubling the
signal strength of the reflection from that point. This is done when moving the system by
placing a geophone where the source was the first time, thus gathering data from a
common depth point (CDP) (Figure 6)
Figure 4. Example of a Seismic Trace (Shell UK)

Figure 5. Basic Seismic Configurations for Land and Sea.

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Figure 6. Common Depth Point (CDP) Data Gathering (UKOOA).

Data Acquisition
Onshore: A charge of dynamite exploded in a shallow drill hole is a very efficient way of
producing a noise source, but is unacceptable near civilisation. More common is the
vibroseis technique. A steel plate is mounted on a heavy truck. It is then lowered to the
ground, the truck lifted, and then vibrated so that the ground is shaken. The vibrations
have a particular pattern that is recognised by recorders to enable measurements of
TWT. The thumper technique, which basically involves the dropping of a heavy weight
can also be used. On land, geophones are planted on either side of the shot line, and
consist of small microphones mounted on spikes driven into the ground.
Offshore: Data acquisition is quicker and cheaper as all the equipment can be towed
behind a boat, and continuously collected. The air- or gas- gun has superseded
dynamite. This consists of a chamber that is explosively voided of compressed air or
evacuated and implosively filled with gas. More than one is used at the same time to
enhance the reflection signals. For shallow surveys electric sparking can be used as a
source. The cable towed may be several kilometres in length and hold several hundred
hydrophones. 3D surveys are becoming more common, especially in the North Sea, and
are carried out using a series of parallel streamers, thus surveying an elongated area
rather than a single line.

Data Processing
During processing, many unwanted effects and noise must be filtered from the raw data,
and distances must be compensated for. Data can of course be processed again and
again with different filtering processes, depending on what exactly is required, and/or the
quality of the traces. Processing aims to achieve the following:

individual traces must be lined up properly, ie, TWT is longer for a distant
geophone than for a near one;

data is stacked for each common mid point to enhance genuine reflections and
cancel out background;

unwanted effects must be eliminated, such as those due to multiple reflections;

data must be depth converted. This requires a knowledge of the velocities of the
sound in all the beds being surveyed. This is best measured directly in a well
through the beds, which may only be possible if prospects look good enough to
warrant the costs of exploratory wells.

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Figure 7 illustrates this process pictorially with a simple example. It must be

remembered during processing that these traces are merely reflections and are based
upon time rather than depth. They do not necessarily correspond to structural features.
Bearing this in mind, major pitfalls in interpretation may be avoided. Processing, velocity
changes and rapid geometry changes can all induce erroneous plots if traces are not
considered carefully. Figure 8 shows some examples. Figure 9 shows a cross-section of
part of the North Sea that has been depth converted.
Figure 7. Seismic Data Processing (Selley, 1998).

Figure 8. Examples of Pitfalls in Seismic Interpretation.

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Figure 9. Depth Converted Seismic Cross-Section of the part of the North Sea
(UKOOA).

Application of Data
With correct interpretation, seismic data has a wide range of uses:

regional mapping;

prospect mapping;

reservoir delineation;

seismic modelling;

direct hydrocarbon detection;

monitoring of petroleum production.

This can be broken down into three general types of analysis, Table 1.
Table 1. Seismic Parameters and Interpretation (Pache et al, 1993).

Seismic
analysis

Prameter studied

Interpretation

Sequence
analysis

Sequences defined and

mapped, nature of
sequence contacts
recorded.

Sequences correlated with global sea

level changes, if possible, and time
calibrated.

Facies
analysis

Description of sequence
defined seismic character

Identification of vertical mounded and

pelagic sediments.

Attribute
analysis

Analysis of wave shape,

amplitude, polarity and
continuity.

Identification of vertical changes in

rock properties, including grain size
profiles and direct hydrocarbon
indicators.

Stratigraphic sequences can be mapped and correlated to time scales if conditions are
right. Worldwide changes in sea levels over millennia contribute to characteristic
sequences and give a time calibration. Long term sequences driven by plate tectonics
can be related to shorter time scales driven by climactic changes for example.
Certain large scale geological facies and lithological sections, such as deltas,
carbonate shelves and marine fans, may be recognised by the configuration and
characteristics of their seismic reflections.
Wave attributes, such as shape and amplitude, can be used to indicate bed thickness
and contact characteristics between strata. Sand geometries and potential reservoir
characteristics can be computed. Extremely accurate 3-D seismic surveys can be

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

constructed using wave attributes. This can be extremely useful in the direct
identification of hydrocarbon zones.
Seismic surveys can also be carried out during drilling operations. So called vertical
seismic surveys (VSP) can be used to show conditions close to the well bore with
correlation to drilling operations, either at breaks in the operations as specific surveys, or
during drilling itself. Sound sources are either at the surface or down-hole, with the
receivers being down-hole or on the surface respectively. This technique can be
expanded to 4-D surveying during the life of a well, the extra dimension being time, to
assess changes in the reservoir as production continues.

Well Logging Techniques

Once a decision has been made to drill an exploratory well, data from remote and
geophysical surveys can be correlated with actual subsurface geology and correct
depths. If interpretation has been good then the well should yield hydrocarbons. Several
wells may be drilled into the suspected target zone or zones. There are three methods
of extracting geological information from a well:
1. physical logs detailed geological description of drill cores and cutting returns;
2. wireline logs physical properties of rocks are recorded by means of tools lowered
into the well on an electric cable (a sonde). A number of different logs can be taken,
with aims of determining the rock type or lithology, the porosity and the nature of the
fluids within the pore spaces
3. logging while drilling (LWD) logging sondes are an integral part of the drill string.

Physical logging involves the examination of cuttings returned within the drilling mud
during normal drilling operations or examination of solid cores of rock that have been
drilled out with specialist coring tools. For correlation, the most important features to find
are the formation tops and geological markers that will be used in subsequent
development of the field. Data from wells in nearby areas can also be used as a guide.
Wireline logs can be run in between drilling runs or whilst drilling by using tools that
reside within the drill string. Techniques include:

gamma ray log plots measure natural radioactivity and can help identify rock
types and the presence of organic matter;

electrical resistivity measurements can indicate the rock type; readings are
related to permeability and fluid salinity and can help identify hydrocarbon zones;

sonic/acoustic logs measure the speed of sound which is useful for seismic
velocity information, the nature of the rocks and the porosity;

neutron logs a neutron stream is fired which reacts with hydrogen to generate
gamma rays that are measured in the sonde. Most hydrogen is present in water
in the pore spaces and this is therefore a measure of porosity.

Logging is improving in accuracy and sophistication all the time. Detailed descriptions
for these techniques, and the numerous others, can be found in many text books. Figure
10 shows some hypothetical examples of log traces. Figure 11 illustrates LWD.
Once all data from surveys and logging have been drawn together, detailed subsurface
geological maps can be drawn up and plans made for the development of the field for
drilling and future production. The process from conception to the initiation of a drilling
programme may take several years.

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Figure 10. Example Log Traces (UKOOA).

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PgDip/MSc The Energy Programme/Subsurface

Remote Sensing, Geophysics and Petrophysics

Figure 11. Logging While Drilling (UKOOA).

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