A detailed microseismic survey was carried out in the Spraberry Field of Midland County, Texas. A vertical pilot well was completed in eight separate stages and was monitored from four surrounding wells within 300 m of the completion well. Each monitor well was equipped with a 20-level 3C geophone array spanning the completion zones. A velocity model was built from dipole sonic and calibrated for vertical transverse isotropy (VTI) parameters using perforation shots, sonic-derived anisotropy, and crosswell seismic time picks. The microseismic locations reveal simple vertical planar clouds only a few meters wide and oriented along maximum horizontal stress direction. Moment tensor solutions show a mix of strike-slip and dipslip shear mechanisms along failure planes aligned with the hydraulic fracture orientation. Formation microimager data indicate that natural fractures play little or no role in generating the microseismicity or guiding fracture growth. The observations indicate that the microseismic shearing is directly associated with the hydraulic fractures.
Presentation Date: Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Start Time: 1:50:00 PM
Location: 208A (Anaheim Convention Center)
Presentation Type: Oral
