1.

History of Formation Evaluation

Formation evaluation is the key to determining whether a well has struck

pay, or is just a dry hole. Terms in this discipline range from Archie equation to
logging, and from permeability to Z/A effect. All definitions have been reviewed by
formation-evaluation experts, and many are accompanied by high-quality
photographs or illustrations.

In petroleum exploration and development, formation evaluation is used to determine the

ability of a borehole to produce petroleum. Essentially, it is the process of "recognizing a
commercial well when you drill one".
Modern rotary drilling usually uses a heavy mud as a lubricant and as a means of producing a
confining pressure against the formation face in the borehole, preventing blowouts. Only in rare
and catastrophic cases, do oil and gas wells come in with a fountain of gushing oil. In real life,
that is a blowoutand usually also a financial and environmental disaster. But controlling

blowouts has drawbacksmud filtrate soaks into the formation around the borehole and a mud
cake plasters the sides of the hole. These factors obscure the possible presence of oil or gas in
even very porous formations. Further complicating the problem is the widespread occurrence of
small amounts of petroleum in the rocks of many sedimentary provinces. In fact, if a sedimentary
province is absolutely barren of traces of petroleum, it is not feasible to continue drilling there.
The formation evaluation problem is a matter of answering two questions:
1. What are the lower limits for porosity, permeability and upper limits for water saturation
that permit profitable production from a particular formation or pay zone; in a particular
geographic area; in a particular economic climate.
2. Do any of the formations in the well under consideration exceed these lower limits.
It is complicated by the impossibility of directly examining the formation. It is, in short, the
problem of looking at the formation indirectly.

2. Differentiate Seismic Survey in onshore and offshore

Seismic survey, method of investigating subterranean structure, particularly as
related to exploration for petroleum, natural gas, and mineral deposits. The technique is
based on determinations of the time interval that elapses between the initiation of a
seismic wave at a selected shop point and the arrival of reflected or refracted impulses
at one or more seismic detectors. Seismic air guns are commonly used to initiate the
seismic waves. This technique has largely replaced the practice of exploding dynamite
underground. Electric vibrators or falling weights (thumpers) may also be employed at
sites where an underground explosion might cause damagee.g., where caverns are
present. Upon arrival at the detectors, the amplitude and timing of waves are recorded
to give a seismogram (record of ground vibrations).

How Does Land Seismic Work?

Drilling for oil is an expensive gamble: With project costs rising every year, an oil company can
stand to lose an incredible amount of money exploring or developing a property that fails to yield
hydrocarbons in commercial rates. When faced with these risks, companies do all they can to
hedge their bets, to be as sure as possible that their investment has a good chance of making
money. Companies want to know as much as possible about the potential profitability of a
property before they begin developing it, and seismic surveys are one of the primary ways they
learn about a prospects production potential.
In essence, seismic surveys are a way to probe beneath the surface to "see" underlying
features that make up the underground structure of a prospect. Such features can give
companies a more astute indication if a prospect contains hydrocarbons.

"In addition to delineating subsurface structures, seismic data can be computer processed for
'attributes' such as Amplitude Versus Offset, or AVO, which can serve as a Direct Hydrocarbon
Indicator (DHI)," said Carl Lothringer, a petroleum geologist at St. Mary Land and Exploration.
AVO shows the lithology and fluid content variations in rocks, allowing geologists to model other
fluid contents. "Such DHIs are as close to directly identifying oil or gas in the subsurface as
geophysicists can get."

Ways of Obtaining Seismic Data

As the name suggests, seismic examines surface-induced seismic pulses to image subsurface
formations. Basically, a seismic wave is generated underneath the earth's surface, and then
picked up by sensors called "geophones" as the waves bounce off subsurface formations - that
is, layers of rock beneath the surface. There are two primary means of generating these waves:
with dynamite and with a process called vibroseis.
Dynamite is the simpler and generally preferred source, but for several reasons it is limited to
open areas, such as fieldsand farmlands. Dynamite is also the only practical energy source in
swampy areas, such as much of Southern Louisiana. Quite simply, dynamite is buried and then
set off. The resulting explosions generate the requisite underground reverberation, which is then
relayed via geophones to a special recording truck.
The other common method, more frequently seen in populous areas or places in which
dynamite is impractical, is vibroseis. Vibroseis uses large, purpose-built trucks as the source of
the seismic waves. Five or six trucks are commonly used to create enough energy for the
procedure. Simultaneously, these trucks then begin to generate energy of increasing frequency
over the period of several seconds. Like with the dynamite method, the resulting reverberations
are measured by geophones, with the data being sent to a recording truck.
The rough signal is then filtered and processed to edit out background noise and produce a
clean, sharp final signal.

Types of Seismic Acquisition

The simplest and oldest form of seismic work is called 2D. In 2D, the seismic data is collected
over a loose grid pattern, with the lines of the grid often conforming to local roads for ease of
access. The lines may be several miles apart. While 2D can give geologists a good general
understanding of an area, its reliance on relatively few cross sections means that such seismic
surveys can result in considerable structural uncertainty between lines.
By the early 1980s, technological advances made so-called 3D seismic possible. 3D essentially
conforms to the same methods as 2D, but uses a dense array of geophones to provide a much
more detailed set of seismic information. 3D seismic information allows geologists to see a
significantly more reliable view of the underground topography of an area. Denser data and
improved computer processing ensures that subsurface features are correctly located, and can

reveal the previously mentioned DHIs, which indicate the presence of hydrocarbons, rather than
merely the structural elements, which could possibly contain hydrocarbons.
Because of advances in computer power and recording ability, 3D is very commonplace today.
While more expensive than traditional 2D seismic, the increased effectiveness and reliability of
3D seismic usually make it well worth the price.
An advance on the premise of 3D seismic is called 4D seismic. This method involves 3D
seismic acquired on a given area multiple times over an extended period of time. This enables
companies to track depletion in a field and allows the identification of areas in a mature field that
have not yet been tapped.

An offshore seismic survey is performed by a crew aboard a boat that moves

along a predefined grid pattern. Behind the boat, the crew tows a sound
generator and strings of sound sensors. The sound generator, or airgun,
releases compressed air into the water to create sound waves that travel
through the water and bounce off subsurface rock layers at the bottom of the
ocean. The sensors detect the reflected sound waves, and the information
they record produces detailed three dimensional maps that scientists
analyze to help locate likely reserves of oil and natural gas. The maps also
pinpoint the safest and most efficient drilling locations, eliminating
unnecessary drilling and reducing the number of dry wells.
The sound from offshore seismic surveys is comparable to the sound of a
sperm whale echolocating for prey and to naturally occurring and other manmade ocean sound sources, including wind and wave action, rain, lightning
strikes, marine life, and shipping operations. Survey operations are normally
conducted at a speed of approximately 4.5 to 5 knots (~5.5 mph). As a
result, the sound does not last long in any one location.

BENEFITS OF SEISMIC SURVEYS IN OIL AND NATURAL GAS

EXPLORATION
Today, advancements in seismic technology have helped find, drill and
produce oil and natural gas with the least risk and the least possible impact
to the earth. As operators explore for oil and gas, the use of geophysical
technologies helps to reduce risk in regards to cost, safety and damage to
the environment. Seismic information is used to accurately plan locations for
wells, reducing the probability of drilling dry wells and consequently the need
for further drilling, minimizing the environmental impact of the oil and gas
exploration.

Offshore seismic surveying

Seismic surveying is a technique used to explore the layers of rock below the
seabed for geologic features that indicate the presence of oil or gas. As the name
suggests, seismic surveys use seismic pulses to create two or three dimensional
images. Seismic waves are generated from a surveying vessel, travel down through
the water and seabed and reflect back off the different layers of rock.
The reflected waves are then picked up by sensors called geophones which are
towed in a streamer behind the vessel.
This streamer consists of long cables with geophones spaced evenly along it with a
tail buoy at the end.
A single streamer is used for 2D seismic data and an array of streamers (between 4
and 24) is used when acquiring 3D seismic data.
Marine seismic vessels use a combination of air or water guns and other acoustic
sources to create the pulse needed to take seismic readings. There are other
methods as well including an acoustic source that produces a chirp frequency.
Creating a seismic pulse does not involve explosions or blasts of any kind. It is
important that the pulses or chirps be emitted in rhythmic repetition as the vessel
moves to collect accurate data.

3. Different exploration techniques/methods

Exploration geophysics is an applied branch of geophysics, which uses physical methods (such
as seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic) at the surface of the Earth to
measure the physical properties of the subsurface, along with the anomalies in those properties. It
is most often used to detect or infer the presence and position of economically useful geological
deposits, such as ore minerals; fossil fuels and other hydrocarbons; geothermal reservoirs; and
groundwater reservoirs.
Exploration geophysics can be used to directly detect the target style of mineralization, via
measuring its physical properties directly. For example, one may measure the density contrasts
between iron ore and silicate wall rocks, or may measure the electrical conductivity contrast
between conductive sulfide minerals and barren silicate minerals.

GEOPHYSICAL METHODS
The main techniques used are:
1. Seismic methods, such as reflection seismology, seismic refraction, and
seismic tomography.
2. Geodesy and gravity techniques, including gravity gradiometry.
3. Magnetic techniques, including aeromagnetic surveys.
4. Electrical techniques, including electrical resistivity tomography and induced
polarization.
5. Electromagnetic methods, such as magnetotellurics, ground penetrating
radar and transient/time-domain electromagnetics.
6. Borehole geophysics, also called well logging.
7. Remote sensing techniques, including hyperspectral imaging.

Many other techniques, or methods of integration of the above techniques, have been developed
and are currently used. However these are not as common due to cost-effectiveness, wide
applicability and/or uncertainty in the results produced.