MICROSEISMIC, INC. Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20160053606 | DETERMINING STIMULATED RESERVOIR VOLUME FROM PASSIVE SEISMIC MONITORING - A method for determining a stimulated rock volume includes determining a position of a plurality of seismic events from seismic signals recorded in response to pumping fracturing fluid into a formation penetrated by a wellbore. The signals generated by recording output of a plurality of seismic receivers disposed proximate a volume of the Earth's subsurface to be evaluated. A source mechanism of each seismic event is determined and is used to determine a fracture volume and orientation of a fracture associated with each seismic event. A volume of each fracture, beginning with fractures closest to a wellbore in which the fracturing fluid was pumped is subtracted from a total volume of proppant pumped with the fracture fluid until all proppant volume is associated with fractures. A stimulated rock volume is determined from the total volume of fractures associated with the volume of proppant pumped. | 02-25-2016 |
20150226868 | METHOD FOR MICROSEISMIC EVENT MOMENT MAGNITUDE ESTIMATION - A method for estimating moment magnitude of a seismic event occurring in subsurface formations includes measuring seismic signals at each of a plurality of seismic sensors disposed in a selected pattern proximate a subsurface area in which the seismic event occurs. Amplitude events corresponding to the seismic event from the signals detected by each receiver are time aligned. Corrections are applied to the aligned events for density, for the formation velocity, for the radiation pattern, for propagation effects and instrument response. The corrected events are summed. Seismic moment is determined from the summed, corrected events. A moment magnitude is estimated from the seismic moment. | 08-13-2015 |
20140288835 | METHOD FOR COMPUTING UNCERTAINTIES IN PARAMETERS ESTIMATED FROM BEAMFORMED MICROSEISMIC SURVEY DATA - A method for estimating uncertainties in determining hypocenters of seismic events occurring in subsurface formations according to one aspect includes determining estimates of event locations by choosing local peaks in summed amplitude of seismic energy detected by an array of sensors disposed above an area of the subsurface to be evaluated. For each peak, the following is performed: recomputing the summed amplitude response for a selected set of points of comprising small perturbations in time and space from the estimated event locations; computing second derivatives of log likelihood function from the stacked responses at the estimated location and the perturbed locations; assembling the second derivatives into a Fisher information matrix; computing an inverse of the Fisher information matrix; determining variances of estimated parameters from the elements from the diagonal of the inverted matrix; and computing standard deviations of the estimated parameters by calculating a square root of the variances. | 09-25-2014 |
20140216729 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING FRACTURE NETWORK VOLUME USING PASSIVE SEISMIC SIGNALS - A method for determining a volume of a fracture network includes detecting seismic signals deployed over an area of the subsurface during pumping of fracturing fluid into at least one wellbore drilled through the area. A hypocenter of each fracture induced by the pumping is determined using the seismic signals. A facture network and associated fracture volume is determined using the determined hypocenters and seismic moments determined from the detected seismic signals. A maximum value of a scaling factor is determined based on a subset of the hypocenters having a highest cumulative seismic moments. The scaling factor is determined by relating a pumped volume of the fracturing fluid with respect to the determined fracture volume. Dimensions of each fracture are scaled using the maximum value of the scaling factor. The fracture volumes are recalculated using the scaled dimensions. | 08-07-2014 |
20140202688 | METHOD FOR DETERMINING FRACTURE PLANE ORIENTATION USING PASSIVE SEISMIC SIGNALS - A method for determining fracture plane orientation from seismic signals detected above a subsurface formation of interest includes detecting seismic signals using an array of seismic sensors deployed above the subsurface formation during pumping of a hydraulic fracture treatment of the subsurface formation. A time of origin and a spatial position of origin (hypocenter) of microseismic events resulting from the hydraulic fracture treatment are determined. Time consecutively occurring ones of the hypocenters falling within a selected temporal sampling window are selected. A best fit line through the selected hypocenters using a preselected linear regression coefficient is determined. The selecting hypocenters and determining best fit lines is repeated for a selected number of windows. | 07-24-2014 |