Borehole Seismic Methods in High Permeability Sandstone
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Department of Exploration Geophysics Borehole Seismic Methods in High Permeability Sandstone Majed Ahmed Almalki This thesis is presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Curtin University November 2014 Declaration of Academic Integrity To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgment has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Signature: Date: 20-2-2014 i To my parents and my respected sisters and brothers. ii Acknowledgements I'm grateful to the many scientists who shared their time and knowledge with me during my PhD. As it would be hard to mention them all, indeed everyone who contributed has my sincere gratitude. To King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology KASCT, thank you for granting me a PhD scholarship. Many thanks to the Saudi Arabia Cultural Mission for nominating me for the excellency award during my PhD. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Brett Harris for accepting me into a research program supported by a grant from the Premiers Water Foundation (a joint research project including: The Water Corporation of Western Australia, CSIRO and Curtin University, with the Department of Water administering the project for the State of Western Australia). Throughout my PhD, Dr Brett Harris’ suggestions and motivation have always been of great value. The field experimental work during my PhD would have not been possible without his assistance. I am also very thankful to the thesis Chair, Professor Boris Gurevich, for reviewing my publication in Geophysics, as well for as his ongoing support. My research owes a lot to other members of my thesis committee too: Dr Anderj Bona, Dr Roman Pevzner and Dr Milovan Urosevic, who helped me out, especially with virtual source analysis. Also, my special, sincere gratitude goes to Dr Christian Dupuis, Dr Bruce Hartley and Dr Robert Galvin for their comments and constructive discussions. I want to thank the Department of Water and the Water Corporation of Western Australia for providing the permeability data and screened casing specifications used in this thesis. I am thankful to G. Maesepp, S. Higginson, and M. Martin from the Department of Water and the Water Corporation of Western Australia for their technical assistance and to Moyra Wilson and Marala Garcia for their valuable analysis of the petrophysics and sedimentary structure of the core samples at cored hole NG3. I would like to express my appreciation to the Faculty of Graduate Studies Committee (FGSC) for financially supporting my attendance at the 73rd EAGE Conference in Vienna 2011. I would like to thank Curtin University for providing financial support for fieldwork, conference attendance and other project-related costs. iii I am also grateful to other PhD students: Elmar Strobach, Andrew Greenwood, Bai Chun Sun, Putri Wisman, Eva Caspari, Faisal Alonaizi, Mamdoh AlAjmi, Abdulaziz AlAsbali, Yousuf AlJabri, Mehdi Asgharzadeh, Andrew Pethick, Sergei Tcherkashnev and Jamal Esttaifan for their strong motivation and a serene working environment. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr Robert Verstandig for proofreading my thesis and to the secretarial and department staff: Melanie Troebinger, Rhiannon Howe, Deirdre Hollingsworth, Tanya Wallace, Judith Tournay and Jennifer McPherson for their continuous assistance. iv List of Publications Journals Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2013, Multifrequency full-waveform sonic logging in the screened interval of a large-diameter production well: Geophysics, 78 (5), B243-B257. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2013, Field and synthetic experiments for virtual source crosswell tomography in vertical wells; Perth Basin, Western Australia: Journal of Applied Geophysics, 98, 144-159. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2013, Changes in P-wave velocity with different full waveform sonic transmitter centre frequency: for Exploration Geophysics.(Under Review) Expanded Abstracts Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2010a, Seismic signature of high permeability sandstone: Perth Basin, Western Australia: 21st International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Extended Abstracts, Sydney, 1-4. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2010b, Multi-frequency full waveform sonic in the screened interval of a large diameter production well: Curtin Reservoir Geophysics Consortium CRGC annual meeting, 10-11 December 2010, Rottnest Island, Western Australia. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and J.C. Dupuis, 2011, Simultaneous Vertical Seismic Profiling in Two Wells and the Virtual Source Method; Perth Basin, Western Australia: 73rd EAGE conference and exhibition, F045. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2011, 3D visualization and analysis of Stoneley wave velocity-frequency dependence in a large diameter screened well: Curtin Reservoir Geophysics Consortium CRGC annual meeting, 8-9 December 2011, Rottnest Island, Western Australia. v Almalki, M., B. Harris, and J.C. Dupuis, 2012, Numerical and field experiments for virtual source tomography, Perth Basin, Western Australia: 22nd International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Extended Abstracts, Brisbane, 1-4. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2012, Stoneley wave dispersion in a high permeability sandstone; Perth Basin, Western Australia: 22nd International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Extended Abstracts, Brisbane, 1-4. Almalki, M., B. Harris, and C.J. Dupuis, 2012, Case study of acoustic logging in a sand-screened production well: KACST-JCCP 1st Joint International Workshop for the Earth’s Surface and Subsurface 4D Monitoring, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Squelch, A., B. Harris, and M. Almalki, 2012, Estimating porosity from CT scans of high permeability core plugs: 22nd International Geophysical Conference and Exhibition, Extended Abstracts, Brisbane, 1-3. Harris, B., C. Dupuis, M. Almalki, Q. Li, , M. Martin, and H. Prommer, 2010, Near Well Seismic Methods for Managed Aquifer Recharge; Perth Basin, Western Australia: 7th Annual International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge ISMAR7, 9-13 October 2010, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Statement of candidate about the contribution of others I am the main author for all the publications used as a part of this thesis. In all these papers, I am the principal investigator. vi List of Additional Publications not Relevant to the Thesis Al-Anezi, G.T., M. Almalki, and T. Alkhalifa, 2013. Mapping of bedrock using the high-resolution seismic reflection technique at Wadi Al Dawasir Region, Saudi Arabia: Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 6, 235-245. Almalki, M. and A. Al-Amri, 2013. Seismic zones regionalization and hazard assessment of SW Arabian Shield and Southern Red Sea Region. In: Lithosphere Dynamics and Sedimentary Basins: The Arabian Plate and Analogues, pp. 317-331. Springer, ISBN 364229278X. vii Abstract One of the challenges in both the oil and groundwater industries is to establish direct or indirect relationships between signals recorded by seismic methods and hydraulic parameters. There is some potential to address this challenge; however, the signals must be acquired with sufficient energy distribution over a wide range of frequencies. Development of new borehole seismic methods may pave the way to more robust links between seismic, mechanical and hydraulic properties for sandstone dominated sedimentary formations. It is common for sandstone aquifers in many sedimentary basins around the world to be penetrated by thousands of wells. Borehole seismic methods have considerable, but often under-utilized, or unrealized, potential for application in these wells. This thesis tackles the challenge of developing new borehole seismic applications in high- permeability sandstone aquifers. Under this general theme, three particular areas of research are presented. In every case, research spans the full, acquisition, processing and interpretation workflow. The three research areas are: (i) multifrequency full waveform sonic logging (FWS) in sand-screened intervals of production wells, (ii) P- wave apparent dispersion analysis and (iii) virtual source crosswell tomography using dual well walkaway vertical seismic profiling (WVSP). A further motivation for my research is to find field methods to extract value from the more esoteric rock physics and borehole seismic theories. In particular I have examined the practical short comings of dispersion analysis for the many wave modes generated during full waveform sonic logging. In addition, I have examined seismic interferometry as a method for recovering crosswell P-wave velocities between vertical well pairs using surface sources only. In each case, the challenge commenced with field acquisition. Field experiments often had to be completed within a limited time immediately after drilling in fragile sand-dominated formations prone to collapse. This is one reason why so little research of a practical nature can be found in the literature on the application of borehole seismic methods in weakly consolidated high-permeability sandstone aquifers. The first of my field experiments consisted of repeated multifrequency full waveform sonic logging in both a simple open drill hole and a high-yield large viii diameter production well completed with wire-wound sand screens at an aquifer storage and recovery site in Perth, Western Australia. Phase-shift transform methods were applied to obtain phase-velocity dispersion images for