Seven Microseismic Projects in Oman: What Have We Learned?

Fahad Al-Kindy*, Peter Engbers, Geir Engen, Nasser Al-Touqi, and Awad Al-Yahyai
PDO
*[email protected]

Since 1999, a total of seven microseismic projects have been acquired by Petroleum Development of Oman (PDO). These were deployed with a range of monitoring objectives including hydraulic fracturing, reservoir compaction and steam injection. In some cases, the projects have proved very successful and are still monitoring today. For other projects, however, they either failed or gave ambiguous results. The failures have been due to poor planning and project management and/or equipment failure. But, in both the successes and failures, PDO has gathered a wealth of knowledge and experience, which are now being incorporated in the planning of upcoming microseismic projects. This knowledge ranged from technical to managerial to operational. In this presentation we will share some of our key experiences with examples from the seven projects and provide a preview of some that are in preparation.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90077©2008 GEO 2008 Middle East Conference and Exhibition, Manama, Bahrain