Petro-Canada, Engineering Seismology Group Canada Inc. (ESG) & Advanced Geotechnology Inc. (AGI) invite you to attend this technology information session. ESG and AGI will describe how the integration of the unique technologies provided through their recent strategic alliance can reduce well completion and stimulation costs, improve reservoir process monitoring, meet regulatory compliance and ultimately increase recovery efficiency. A brief introduction to the services provided by both firms will be given, followed by a summary of microseismic monitoring and its application to the oil and gas industry.  This session will be of interest to oil and gas operators or service companies who would like to optimize hydraulic fracture performance, improve waterflood or thermal process conformance, or monitor subsurface waste disposal operations.

Date:  Tuesday, October 31, 2000  
Time: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm.  Presentation starts at 12:00 noon
Location: PanCanadian Amphitheatre, Room 260 Tower Centre, Second Level,
                131-9th Ave. SE, Calgary (Light Lunch Provided)
    
Background
AGI and ESG have formed a strategic technical alliance to provide the oil and gas industry with integrated petroleum geomechanics services and microseismic monitoring for a wide variety of reservoir recovery processes and subsurface waste injection operations.

AGI is a Calgary-based international consulting and software development firm that specializes in petroleum geomechanics and its application to borehole instability, sand production prediction, hydraulic fracturing, caprock integrity, naturally fractured reservoirs, thermal recovery, coalbed methane, subsurface waste disposal, reservoir monitoring and greenhouse gas sequestration.

ESG is a world leader in passive monitoring of induced microseismic events. ESG offers turn-key microseismic monitoring services, from installation of sensors through to acquisition and real-time event processing and visualization, supplemented with complete consulting services, microseismic array design, and interpretation. The corner-stone of the ESG product line is the state-of-the-art Hyperion Seismic Monitoring System, which has seen worldwide application for hydraulic fracture mapping and reservoir imaging in the oil and gas industry, monitoring of liquid petroleum gas storage reservoirs, geothermal fields, underground excavation stability and mine safety.

Typical Applications
Examples from several recent hydraulic fracturing treatments conducted in vertical and horizontal wells will be described. In most cases, it is advantageous to place hydraulic fractures in the reservoir zone without having excessive height growth either up or down, thus minimizing treatment costs and maximizing the well's inflow potential. However, due to less favourable in-situ stresses, rock properties or formation pressures, the precise placement of hydraulic fractures is not always possible. Despite vast improvements in pseudo-3D fracture modelling, there still exists considerable uncertainty in the prediction of induced fracture dimensions, and hence stimulated area. Microseismic monitoring has been used to monitor the real-time growth of induced fractures and, in some cases, movements on nearby natural fractures that are stimulated. A knowledge of this information can be used to:

• optimize fracture treatment designs
  
• plan optimal well trajectories
  
• develop better drainage and injection strategies
  
• assess the role of natural fractures
  
• monitor fracture barrier integrity

Several reservoir characterization examples will demonstrate how permanent passive monitoring of reservoirs has been used to map faults and monitor waterflood conformance. Microseismic monitoring has also been successfully deployed to monitor caprock and casing integrity concerns within shales overlying cyclic steam stimulation operations in several heavy oil reservoirs. The basis for this type of monitoring and several field examples will be described. Geomechanical reservoir simulation to predict stress and pore pressure changes in a caprock can be used to design an optimal monitoring network, or conversely to interpret the results from in-situ monitoring in the context of production or operational risks. A typical geomechanical modelling study and reservoir monitoring installation for a SAGD project will be outlined.P>

For further information on this exciting technology, please visit  www.advgeotech.com or www.esg-solutions.com.

To register for this session please fax the following information to Ms. Erin Reeves of AGI at (403)234-9123 or contact AGI by phone at (403)264-8433 or by email at info@advgeotech.com.

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PTAC makes no representation regarding ownership or quality of the subject technology.