3-D Seismic Technology Locates Natural Gas in Fractured Reservoirs

DOE-Sponsored Project Taps New Supplies of “Tight” Gas

Rio Arriba County, N.M. — Large volumes of natural gas are being tapped from the tight rocks of the San Juan Basin in New Mexico’s Rio Arriba County using a new technology developed in a project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
In this cost-shared project, GeoSpectrum, Inc., of Midland, Texas, uses 3-D seismic to locate fractures in the earth that provide access to millions of cubic feet of untapped natural gas in four new wells—including one well that is now producing up to 2 million cubic feet per day.

“The key innovation in this project is the integration of technologies that map previously unseen fracture lineaments and perturbations in seismic data, and then target fracture “sweet spots” where multiple fractures intersect,” said geophysicist Francis Toro, who manages the project for DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory.

Science Daily

The National Energy Technology Laboratory – U.S. Department of Energy