DETECTION OF GAS BUBBLE BOUNDARY MOVEMENT*

Abstract

ABSTRACTHigh‐resolution seismic surveys were performed on an underground gas storage of Gaz de France at Gournay‐sur‐Aronde (Oise) in order to obtain information about gas bubble boundaries within the reservoir. For that purpose, a light seismic source Soursile and spreads with small spacing between geophone groups (10 m) and small geophone group extension (10 m or 20 m) were used. In December 1982, a line recorded on the top of the anticline structure of the gas reservoir provided an estimation of the lateral extension of the bubble based on an amplitude anomaly (dim spot) associated with reservoir seismic horizons. In order to estimate the displacement of the gas bubble within the reservoir, three lines were recorded on the southeastern part of the anticline at different time periods (April 1981 and January 1982) with different volumes of gas in the reservoir. It is assumed that a variation of gas volume introduces a seismic velocity variation and as a result a travel‐time variation for the seismic waves that pass through the reservoir. A method based on the residual time shifts observed on reflectors below the reservoir from one survey to the other was developed and implemented. This method permitted a detection of a movement gas bubble boundary between April 1981 and January 1982 which agrees with drill hole data (water level measurements).