Assessing Seismic monitoring for Shale gas exploration (ASeiS)

评估页岩气勘探的地震监测 (ASeiS)

• 批准号: NE/R006709/1
• 负责人: Anna Stork
• 金额: $ 3.97万
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2017 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FR006709%2F1
• 关键词: Assessing; Seismic; monitoring; Shale; gas

This NERC Innovation Placement will embed the required expertise in the Environment Agency (EA) to efficiently and appropriately regulate hydraulic fracturing (HF) activities for the exploitation of shale gas/oil reserves in the UK. This is crucial for the short- and long-term success of the industry, which has significant potential worth to the UK's economy. The EA's remit includes the requirement to protect groundwater from pollution as a result of high pressure and volume HF and operators of shale exploration sites must submit a Hydraulic Fracturing Plan (HFP) to the EA for approval. This should include how the company will monitor the movement of HF fluids to verify they do not transgress the permitted boundary for exploration. Passive seismic monitoring (PSM) is currently considered the most appropriate method to achieve this because seismic event locations can indicate the extent of fluid migration. However, this type of monitoring is not a perfect solution and there remain uncertainties in the reported results. This project will embed geophysical knowledge in the organisation so the EA will be equipped to1. Evaluate proposed PSM and other geophysical methods for their suitability for the task;2. Assess the probability of a leaking wellbore in the event of a seismic event close to an active exploration site;3. Understand developing technologies and assess when they become acceptable monitoring solutions. To achieve these objectives, I will work with key EA staff in the Oil and Gas Programme, notably Simon Dawson (Technical Specialist in Geophysics) and Marion Maloney (Senior Advisor in Energy and Emerging Issues), to transfer scientific knowledge and the latest research in PSM. I will collaboratively develop and deliver two versions of a one-day workshop for EA staff to provide them with knowledge in basic earthquake source parameter estimation (e.g., location and magnitude) and current (e.g., geophone) and developing (e.g., fibre-optic) technology. With these staff, I will also build assessment criteria for proposed monitoring set-ups to improve the efficiency of HFP assessment. Additionally, I will develop a tool for the EA to assess the likelihood and extent of damage to a wellbore if seismicity is recorded. This tool will make use of available seismic event locations, magnitudes and fault plane solutions to model the probability that a wellbore has experienced deformation of a given displacement, thereby allowing an assessment of the risk of groundwater pollution.The key challenge faced by the EA is that there are knowledge gaps in geophysical monitoring amongst its staff. The Agency's regulation of the conventional oil and gas industry in the UK does not require any seismic monitoring plans. In the past, there has therefore been no need for specialised geophysical knowledge, in particular in PSM, at the EA. With shale gas exploration due to restart in the UK in 2017 the EA expects to receive HFPs from several exploration companies in the coming year. It is vital that this nascent industry, which has been and will be subject to significant public scrutiny, monitors projects appropriately and proportionately. Furthermore, the EA must be able to provide an expert assessment of HFPs to ensure safe operations and to avoid undue financial burdens on companies caused by excessive monitoring requirements. This project will put in place an efficient process to assess HFPs by well-trained EA staff.With over 10 years' experience and more than 10 international, peer-reviewed publications on seismic monitoring and estimating source parameters for seismic events, I am well placed to deliver this project. My background includes over 5 years working on microseismic monitoring of industrial fluid injection projects (carbon sequestration and hydraulic fracturing). This research has significant implications for the regulation of hydraulic fracturing in the UK and I am in an excellent position to communicate this to the EA.

该NERC创新项目将在环境署（EA）中嵌入所需的专业知识，以有效和适当地监管英国页岩气/石油储量开采的水力压裂（HF）活动。这对于该行业的短期和长期成功至关重要，该行业对英国经济具有巨大的潜在价值。EA的职权范围包括要求保护地下水免受高压和高容量HF的污染，页岩勘探场地的运营商必须向EA提交水力压裂计划（HFP）以供批准。这应包括公司将如何监测HF流体的流动，以验证它们没有超出允许的勘探边界。被动地震监测（PSM）目前被认为是实现这一目标的最合适的方法，因为地震事件位置可以指示流体迁移的程度。然而，这种类型的监测并不是一个完美的解决方案，报告的结果仍然存在不确定性。该项目将在组织中嵌入地球物理知识，因此EA将配备1。评估提议的PSM和其他地球物理方法是否适合任务;2.评估在靠近活跃勘探现场的地震事件中井眼泄漏的概率;3.了解发展中的技术，并评估它们何时成为可接受的监控解决方案。为了实现这些目标，我将与石油和天然气项目的主要EA工作人员合作，特别是Simon Dawson（地球物理学技术专家）和Marion Maloney（能源和新兴问题高级顾问），以转移科学知识和PSM的最新研究。我将为EA员工合作开发并提供为期一天的研讨会的两个版本，为他们提供基本震源参数估计的知识（例如，位置和幅度）和电流（例如，地震检波器）和开发（例如，光纤）技术。与这些工作人员一起，我还将为拟议的监测设置建立评估标准，以提高HFP评估的效率。此外，我将开发一个工具，为EA评估的可能性和损害程度的井筒，如果地震活动记录。该工具将利用现有的地震事件的位置，震级和断层面的解决方案，以模拟的概率，一个井眼已经经历了给定的位移变形，从而允许地下水污染的风险进行评估。EA面临的主要挑战是，在地球物理监测的工作人员之间的知识差距。该机构对英国常规石油和天然气行业的监管不要求任何地震监测计划。因此，在过去，EA不需要专业的地球物理知识，特别是PSM。随着页岩气勘探将于2017年在英国重启，EA预计明年将从多家勘探公司获得HFP。至关重要的是，这个新兴行业已经并将受到严格的公众监督，对项目进行适当且成比例的监控。此外，环境署必须能够提供对HFP的专家评估，以确保安全运营，并避免过度的监测要求给公司造成不必要的财务负担。这个项目将建立一个有效的流程，由训练有素的EA工作人员评估HFP。我拥有超过10年的经验和10多篇关于地震监测和估计地震事件震源参数的国际同行评审出版物，完全有能力完成这个项目。我的背景包括超过5年的工业流体注入项目（碳封存和水力压裂）的微震监测工作。这项研究对英国水力压裂的监管具有重要意义，我处于一个很好的位置，可以将其传达给EA。