Mitigating induced seismicity around depleted gas fields based on geomechanical modeling

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (5) ◽  
pp. 334-342
Author(s):  
Jan ter Heege ◽  
Sander Osinga ◽  
Brecht Wassing ◽  
Thibault Candela ◽  
Bogdan Orlic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Gas Fields

scholarly journals Movers and Shakers: Stock Market Response to Induced Seismicity in Oil and Gas Business

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8051
Author(s):  
Matthijs Jan Kallen ◽  
Bert Scholtens
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Stock Market Reaction ◽  
Oil And Gas Fields ◽  
The Us ◽  
Royal Dutch Shell ◽  
Gas Fields

Investors increasingly need to account for concerns about non-financial performance and to consider the environmental impact of fossil fuel investment. We analyze how financial investors appreciate induced seismicity in oil and gas fields in the US and the Netherlands. We employ an event study to investigate the stock market reaction of investors in two fossil fuel majors, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell. We establish that stock market participants’ response is positively but weakly related to induced seismicity with ExxonMobil. This suggests that markets might interpret this seismicity as a signal of future productivity. With Royal Dutch Shell, there is no significant association, suggesting that their investors do not specifically appreciate its externalities. We conclude that the externality of induced seismicity goes unpriced.

Spatiotemporal modelling of induced seismicity with a stress-based statistical approach applied to different production sites

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gudrun Richter ◽  
Sebastian Hainzl ◽  
Peter Niemz ◽  
Francesca Silverii ◽  
Torsten Dahm ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Gas Storage ◽  
Spatiotemporal Pattern ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Stress Changes ◽  
Gas Fields

<p>In the framework of the Geo:N project SECURE (Sustainable dEployment and Conservation of Underground Reservoirs and Environment) we developed a Python software toolbox to model the rate and distribution of seismicity induced by anthropogenic stress changes at various production sites (gas production, hydrofracturing, gas storage). This toolbox tests different frictional behavior of the underground (linear or rate-and-state stressing rate dependent, critically or subcritically prestressed faults) and takes into account the uncertainties of the production site parameters. The knowledge on the location and orientation of pre-existing faults can be considered as well. Model parameters are estimated by fitting the model to recorded historical seismicity using a maximum likelihood approach. We discuss applications at conventional gas fields, hydraulic fracturing experiments and an aquifer gas storage site, covering a wide range of spatial and temporal scales of induced seismicity in different settings and for different production schemes. This enables to investigate the underlying physical processes by the comparison of the different models. Additionally, the model parameters are linked to frictional material properties and the best performing model can be used to forecast the seismicity rates in space and time with their uncertainties according to the production plans.</p><p>Induced seismicity at gas fields in the Northern Netherlands and in Germany have similar tectonic settings but very different extents, depths and production histories. The data set of two sites are compared which both show a large delay of the first recorded seismicity after the start of production. Using our model we can reproduce the long delay for both sites. Thanks to the long and detailed data set we successfully reproduce the spatiotemporal pattern of the seismicity of one site, whereas the limited number of seismic events result in large uncertainties for the other site. In the comparative testing of the models the critically prestressed rate-and-state model performs best. This means that the complete stressing history influences the resulting seismicity. We also applied the model to a hydraulic fracturing experiment in granite comparing data sets for different fracturing methods and different phases of a stimulation experiment. Hundreds of microearthquakes are localized in a volume of roughly 15x15m with increasing number of events for later refraction stages indicating the growth of rock fracturing. A third application is run for a gas storage in an aquifer layer, which is loaded by injection and production operations. Here the proportion of the tectonic versus the anthropogenic induced seismicity is investigated analyzing the varying number of small local earthquakes in the region.</p>

scholarly journals On the physics-based processes behind production-induced seismicity in natural gas fields

2017 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 3792-3812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominik Zbinden ◽  
Antonio Pio Rinaldi ◽  
Luca Urpi ◽  
Stefan Wiemer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Gas Fields

scholarly journals Geomechanical models for induced seismicity in the Netherlands: inferences from simplified analytical, finite element and rupture model approaches

2017 ◽  
Vol 96 (5) ◽  
pp. s183-s202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Diederik Van Wees ◽  
Peter A. Fokker ◽  
Karin Van Thienen-Visser ◽  
Brecht B.T. Wassing ◽  
Sander Osinga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Seismic Moment ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Central Area ◽  
Pressure Change ◽  
Seismicity Rates ◽  
Stress Changes ◽  
Pressure Depletion ◽  
Rupture Model ◽  
Gas Fields

AbstractIn the Netherlands, over 190 gas fields of varying size have been exploited, and 15% of these have shown seismicity. The prime cause for seismicity due to gas depletion is stress changes caused by pressure depletion and by differential compaction. The observed onset of induced seismicity due to gas depletion in the Netherlands occurs after a considerable pressure drop in the gas fields. Geomechanical studies show that both the delay in the onset of induced seismicity and the nonlinear increase in seismic moment observed for the induced seismicity in the Groningen field can be explained by a model of pressure depletion, if the faults causing the induced seismicity are not critically stressed at the onset of depletion. Our model shows concave patterns of log moment with time for individual faults. This suggests that the growth of future seismicity could well be more limited than would be inferred from extrapolation of the observed trend between production or compaction and seismicity. The geomechanical models predict that seismic moment increase should slow down significantly immediately after a production decrease, independently of the decay rate of the compaction model. These findings are in agreement with the observed reduced seismicity rates in the central area of the Groningen field immediately after production decrease on 17 January 2014. The geomechanical model findings therefore support scope for mitigating induced seismicity by adjusting rates of production and associated pressure change. These simplified models cannot serve as comprehensive models for predicting induced seismicity in any particular field. To this end, a more detailed field-specific study, taking into account the full complexity of reservoir geometry, depletion history and mechanical properties, is required.

Geoeconomic Leverage of Natural Gas Resources in the Mediterranean

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Mahdi
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Tel Aviv ◽  
Economic Influence ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Influence Attempts ◽  
Gas Fields

This article examines the claim that Israel’s natural gas exports from its Mediterranean gas fields will give geopolitical leverage to Tel Aviv over the importing countries. Using the geoeconomic tradition of Klaus Knorr and others who wrote about applying leverage using economic resources to gain geopolitical advantage, it is argued that certain criteria have to be satisfied for economic influence attempts, and that Israel’s gas exports do not satisfy these criteria. They include the importer’s supply vulnerability, the supplier’s demand vulnerability, and the salience of energy as an issue between both countries. Israeli gas exports to Egypt are used as a case study.

Varied Responses to Human-Induced Seismicity in the City of Azle, Texas

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Sarmistha R. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Induced Seismicity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Prior History ◽  
Small Community ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
The Status

Fracking has helped to usher in an era of energy abundance in the United States. This advanced drilling procedure has helped the nation to attain the status of the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the world, but some of its negative externalities, such as human-induced seismicity, can no longer be ignored. The occurrence of earthquakes in communities located at proximity to disposal wells with no prior history of seismicity has shocked residents and have caused damages to properties. It has evoked individuals’ resentment against the practice of injection of fracking’s wastewater under pressure into underground disposal wells. Though the oil and gas companies have denied the existence of a link between such a practice and earthquakes and the local and state governments have delayed their responses to the unforeseen seismic events, the issue has gained in prominence among researchers, affected community residents, and the media. This case study has offered a glimpse into the varied responses of stakeholders to human-induced seismicity in a small city in the state of Texas. It is evident from this case study that although individuals’ complaints and protests from a small community may not be successful in bringing about statewide changes in regulatory policies on disposal of fracking’s wastewater, they can add to the public pressure on the state government to do something to address the problem in a state that supports fracking.

Potential of recovering elements from produced water at oil and gas fields, British Columbia, Canada

CIM Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
G. J. Simandl ◽  
C. Akam ◽  
M. Yakimoski ◽  
D. Richardson ◽  
A. Teucher ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Oil And Gas Fields ◽  
Gas Fields
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