PRM system monitoring of injection and production processes for safe operation

Abstract

The challenges of safe oil recovery and injection projects in areas with a challenged overburden, requires increased fieldand well surveillance in order to avoid leak to surface events, as previously observed at e.g. the Tordis and the Frade field. Monitoring with Permanent Reservoir Monitoring (PRM) systems through installation of seismic ocean bottom nodes offers a strong monitoring solution, which can contribute with useful information contributing to the understanding of the structural integrity of the caprock; injection well integrity; drilling hazards; as well as fluid movement and stress changes build ups, all needed in order to avoid unwanted events as surface leaks. A PRM system further offers solutions for the collection of data from active seismic surveys and the collection of ambient seismic noise data, which can be used obtaining a better understanding of the shallow structures of the overburden. For surveillance of microseismic events, induced through either production or injection processes, a real-time alarm system is required, in order for the appropriate actions to be made when the induced microseismic events propagates towards the surface before reaching the seabed. Such a system is foreseen to utilize down well pressure data, microseismic data and possible other data available.