From creekology to rocket science the evolution of remote sensing gis in oilgas exploration

From Creekology to Rocket Science:
The Evolution of Remote Sensing/GIS
in Oil and Gas Exploration
A Presentation for

2011 Texas GIS Forum
October 26, 2011
Austin, Texas

David G. Koger

Fort Worth

Becoming an Expert
 takes 10,000 hours, timing & luck

Becoming an Expert
 and the desire to show up

Becoming an Expert
 the desire to show up

 and learning “dialogues of business”

Becoming an Expert


 and learning after school‟s out

Becoming an Expert


 and learning after school‟s out

 e.g. the expert mortician

Creekology: Seeing into the Earth

Creekology: Seeing into the Earth

 „Seepology‟...Native Americans
extracted medicinal goo
 The first oil wildcatters drilled at the
bends in streams
 Early USGS maps showed rough
stream drainage patterns

Creekology
 Satellite data—large scale and highly
accurate—merged creekology with
geology.
 Photogeologic work was now possible
without troublesome mosaicking.
 Remotely sensed data are spatially and
spectrally better than airphotos, and has
 A greater variety of sun angles, moisture
conditions, and seasonal samplings.

How this will work
 Agenda:
• Part 1: Case studies (natural disasters;
environmental; damages & liabilities;
exploration; logistical support)
• Part 2: Photogeology; how images work
• Part 3: Field work: it costs a lot.
Getting better data; saving time and
money on your surveys
• Part 4: Other stuff to know, time
permitting

Part 1: Case Studies
...Liabilities, Damages,
Operations and
Planning…

Case study #1
 Put it back the way you found it.
(not an unreasonable request…)
 What is a weed, after all?
(everybody knows what a weed is, right?)
 Causing damage to the bushes
 and what‟s beneath the bushes
(USLE).
 Putting it back
(how hard can that be?)

Case study #2
 300,000 acres burned up
 Whose land was damaged?

 What portions were grassland, crops,

trees?
 Where‟d the fire actually start?

 Who‟s responsible?

Fire Severity on Property
Boundaries

High Water Marks
Creating up-to-date
information.

A word about coastlines, tides,
erosion (and where the fish
are).

Freshwater or Ocean; currents and
thermal differences for fishing

Exploration Examples
 Nebraska
 Fayetteville Shale

 Marcellus Shale

 Romania

 Paraguay

 Costa Rica

 Kansas DOE three times

Large-scale Data Management:
Photogeology Mapping of Nebraska

The goal was
to foment
exploration, so
we conducted
a
photogeology
study of
Nebraska at
medium scale,
using satellite
imagery,
gravity and
magnetics.


We acquired
topographic
maps at
1:250,000 and
1:100,000
scales) for
spatial
reference with
the satellite
imagery.


Structural
interpretations
were made
from and
overlaid onto
the imagery.


The
interpretations
were overlaid
onto topo
maps to
provide a
universal map
reference
display.


A merge of
imagery, map,
and
interpretation.

Landsat
bands 7, 4,
and 2;
composited
as color on
the following
slide

Landsat
composites
from two
different
dates. Also,
the
geometry
differs.

Regional (250K+) Interpretations

Regional + Local (24K)
Interpretations

Romania
 Identify features of exploration
interest (e.g. fault/frax, structures,
tonal anomalies)

 Update WWII-era maps

 Identify high-cost damage areas
(e.g. vineyards....)

Data Types & Sources: Multi-sensor merge
(Landsat + SPOT)

The area had only WWII-era maps....

(Landsat + SPOT)

This is the 5-meter panchromatic SPOT image that supplied
the spatial detail in the study, while 28.5m Landsat data
provided the spectral information.

(Landsat + SPOT)

The multi-band Landsat was encoded to hue and
saturation, while the higher resolution SPOT was
assigned to intensity.

Data Types & Sources: Multisensor merge
(Landsat + SPOT)

The photogeology interpretations are overlaid.

Data Types & Sources: Multisensor merge
(Landsat + SPOT)

Paraguay Information Needed
Where are existing roads that can be used
for moving equipment and laying out field
work equipment,

Where are the tracks of previous field work?

Update maps...collect detailed knowledge of
the area,

Find water sources: rivers, ponds, springs.

Gold = Your New, Geometrically
Accurate Roadmap

“Remote Sensing Image Analysis
Toward Understanding
Sequestration Potential of
Southern Kansas”
DE-FE0002056 – “Modeling CO2 Sequestration in Saline
Aquifer and Depleted Oil Reservoir to Evaluate Regional CO2
Sequestration Potential of Ozark Plateau Aquifer System,
South-Central Kansas”

by
David G. Koger
Ralph N. Baker, PhD
Fort Worth

Information needed:
 Is it safe to inject CO2?

 Will it come back up?

 How quickly?

 Where?

 Where might it get trapped?

 What are the cost trade-offs?

Remote Sensing to the Rescue

• Help map the subsurface
 Conduits / Compartments;
 Migration fairways / Sealing mechanisms

• Define structural & stratigraphic
elements
 these affect Fluid Movement

(Information, continued)

All of which supports:
Environmental Risk Analysis
and
Helps determine reservoir
suitability for CO2 storage

Because knowing the contrasts of
Conduits vs. Compartmentalization
and
Migration Pathways vs. Sealing Factors

Must be understood & modeled to predict
Fluid Movement and reservoir integrity
because this is how we can know
how and where groundwater flows
and, therefore,
How/if CO2 injections might affect the water
table (e.g. we expect some CO2 leakage
along fractures; high porosity/permeability
zones are especially noteworthy….

Regional Gravity & Magnetics

 Define Major Basement Block Boundaries, Structural Grain

Regional Satellite Photogeology

“Remote Sensing Image Analysis of the
Bemis-Schutts Field,
Ellis County, Kansas”
in support of U.S. Dept of Energy/KS Geological Survey’s
DE-FE0004566 – “Prototyping and testing a new volumetric curvature tool for
modeling reservoir compartments and leakage pathways in the Arbuckle
saline aquifer: reducing uncertainty in CO2 storage and permanence”

by
David G. Koger
Ralph N. Baker, PhD
Koger Remote Sensing, Fort Worth

How satellites work:
 They collect their data with
scanners. Other scanners are:
• video cameras,
• fax machines,
• barcode readers,
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
machines,
• video game characters‟ vision...

Part 2 (how images work)

 About satellite data
• How it collects & organizes data
• Attributes of these data
 Spectra, spatial, temporal
 Photogeology for exploration


• How data are collected & organized
• Attributes of these data


Docks and Cranes Collapsed in
Water (after quake)

Presidential Palace, post-quake


• How it works
• Attributes

Digital Image Processing

“Pixel” =
“picture
element”
...one
spatial
unit plus
the
spectra.

• How it works
• Attributes

Reducing Data to Information
A typical project area encompasses:

•2-6 Landsat scenes (600MB to 1.8 GB raw data)
•12-36 USGS raster topo sheets (500 Mb to 1.5 Gb)
•Ancillary magnetics and gravity surveys (200 MB)
•High resolution aerial imagery (800MB to 2 GB)

For a total of 2.1 to 5 GB of raw data

Color composites, PCAs, structural interpretations, and ancillary
data can make 12-15 GB of additional files

All this fuss over data selection, processing, and analysis is
because the process must deliver the information needed to
make decisions.

Landsat TM processing

Landsat Band 7 raw data

with brightness and
contrast stretches
applied


Same area: Band 1 raw data

stretched


Band 3-2-1 composite of
raw data

Same, stretched


Band 7-5-4 composite of
raw data

Same, stretched


Multitemporal Principal Components Analysis
(or De-correlation Stretch).

Part 2

• How it works
• Attributes

At left, March 12 shows vegetation patterns in
the early spring (bright greens).

At right, December 23 vegetation is dormant.

Both images are “true.”

Palo Pinto Landsat multi-temporal comparisons

September

and March

Multi-temporal 1m data comparison
for tax appraisal purposes

Part 2
• How it works
• Attributes

You can never have too
much information

What you do have:
 production trends,
 a regional framework,
 well logs here and there, and
 maybe some field work.

Available information is massive:
 Surface and subsurface geology maps
 Current and historic well logs

 Topographic maps

 Seismic analyses

 Gravity surveys

 Magnetic surveys

 Satellite and aerial imagery

 Geochem surveys

The ideal tool would:
1) fill in every empty space of the
mosaic
2) highlight anomalous conditions,
and map structure: large folds and
astroblemes or localized fracturing
and reefs.

An even better tool would:
a) sample at intervals in time
(all seasons, wet and drought
conditions, over decades),
and
b) offer adaptive scale to
support either frontier or
mature basin analysis.

Two Kinds of Tools:
• Those that find structure
• Those that find anomalous
conditions

Remote sensing does both

The Crust of Earth is:

• Thin, unstable, and floats
• Bombarded with energy daily
• Generates soil @ 3 tons per acre
per year
• Washed down and compacted daily

Remote sensing photogeology
is a blend of several disciplines:

 optics
 physics

 electronics

 cartography

 natural science

 computer sciences

Patterns: Their causes and effects

Subsurface activity imprints the
surface for many reasons :

 constant micro-earthquakes,
 settling,

 erosion,

 micro-seepages.

Microbes are everywhere!
 We are 1/10
th us; 9/10th microbes.

 H.pylori causes 90% of peptic ulcers.

 Antibiotics fight harmful microbes.

 Yogurt has good ones.

 They‟re in amber, meteorites, Mars rocks,

and 250 million-yr-old crystals.
 A billion microbes in 1 gram of topsoil.

 Dead microbes make topsoil.

 Other microbes clean up oil spills.

 A trillion are on each of your feet.

Healthy topsoil…
 retains water better,

 resists erosion,

 has more oxygen,

 better nutrients,

 Microbes and earthworms like it,

 compacts less, and

 is friendlier to roots.

Hydrocarbon-eating microbes
 Thrive above oil and gas reservoirs.
 Create a magnetic residue.

 Are counted.

 Deplete oxygen in soil.

 Do not build good soil.

 Seeps are mostly vertical; dynamic.

These conditions have been
recorded for 39 years....

The Information in Photogeology
Lineaments:
Faults, fractures, fracture orientation and joints can
have surface expression as:
 Linear escarpments. Changes in the directions
they face can mean strike-slip faults.
 Linear and right angle bends in drainage courses.

 Drainages running in parallel.

 Aligned drainages on opposing sides of a drainage
divide.
 Tributaries entering main streams in direct
opposition.
 Moisture accumulation in linear patterns; alignment
of water bodies

Lineaments (continued):
 Linear vegetation patterns due to water
availability.
 Aligned notches on ridge crests.

 Subtle dip changes, varying lithologies or
changes in rock texture.
 Variation in thermal signature.
 Large topographic trends align with
basement lineaments.
 High fracture densities enhance
hydrocarbon mobility at depth

Positive Structures at Depth can appear as…
 Surface tonal anomalies.

 Circular features can indicate buried structure.

 Vegetation differences: health, leaf water content,
population distribution.
 Differential compaction, loading, increased fracture
density over and adjacent to buried structure.
 Soil color and texture alterations…staining, bleaching,
cobbling.
 Local, slight topographic highs or lows.

 Subtle variations in moisture accumulation on the
flanks of buried structure.

Mapping and GIS: making it all fit

Google Earth: “cans” and “can’ts”:
Very popular new web tool;
•Fast and easy for finding places and routes
•Reasonably accurate cartographic information;
•High resolution imagery in some locations;
•Excellent 3D visualization tool
However:
•Not accurate enough to be used as an exploration map
•Image dates unknown
•Most areas outside cities and large towns in low resolution
•Color imagery not good enough for photogeologic analysis

Field Work
Support
Requires Leadership…
Knowing where you‟re
going….

Field Work Support in Three Parts

1) Strategies to get you the best
possible data

2) Logistical hoops to jump through
($), and

3) Tools that will help you

Wait a second: has your
area been shot already?

“Earth Detective” work on
an unusual application for
(free) satellite data....

Has your area been shot?
 Google Earth
 Landsat 5

 Landsat 7

 Airphotos in archive

• Military
• DOT
• USDA
• Farm Service

Has the area been shot?
 The trouble with airphoto coverage:
• it is spotty
• often monochromatic
• often mono-temporal
 Satellite data
• have an archive that goes back 29 years
• they‟re inexpensive…mostly free
• they cover 10,000 square miles
• you get to choose:
 the right sun angle
 the right soil moisture
 the right vegetation cover

Yes, there were shoots in the area
as of 18July06

Only six months later, seeing it is
difficult due to the low sun angle:

What you should know about
supporting field work
 Somebody is responsible. Apparently, it‟s you.
 Good information won‟t just happen…it demands
good planning.
 List all the things that can go wrong in the field.
Plan for them.
 Field work is expensive. Your project will go over
budget unless good information supports your
plan....
 Collecting the best quality field data results from
a good plan.

Field work Support in Three Parts

possible data

($), and


The Subsurface

...is where the
treasure—water or
oil—is: how can we
see down there?

On the Geology Side:
Expensive subsurface surveys are useless
unless they produce a proper image of the
subsurface.
Advanced modeling—before the shoot
design—of the strata below will dictate
your:
• receiver and source spacing,
• the location and spacing of lines
• the geometric organization of the signal source
and receiver locations, i.e. the design.

Magnetics:
“basement topography”

Satellite data on DEM: slippery slopes

Surface composition: i.e. slippery soils

The Subsurface in 3-D
 Generate a model of the earth at depth
using:
• surface & subsurface structure maps,
• velocity information, and
• other seismic data.
 Ray tracing from the target horizons will
identify your optimum shoot parameters

Initial Design
 Test it to ensure that subsurface
coverage is not compromised.
 A full patch, 3D ray tracing shows:

• which parameters will best image your
target.
 3-D ray tracing may be re-run after
“no permit areas” or other obstacles
are found.

Final Design
 Subsurface model is in place
 Offset sources & receivers have been ray
traced in the model
 Hazards are identified
 Protocol for handling offsets is established
 …meaning: geophysical decisions are not
left to the field crew
 We‟re now ready to go to the field

Field Support in Three Parts

possible data

($), and


Knowing What’s in
Real World…
Dealing with it.

Realities of Designing Field Work
 The goals of field work and land
owners are often in conflict.
 It takes knowledge, effort, and time,

to:
• identify the project‟s requirements and
• endure the permitting process.
 A third party consultant will save you
time and money.

Two Costly Philosophies
 Being Rigorous:
• a strict technical design w/o regard for
obstacles on the ground…
Your field personnel have to deal with whatever
obstacles they encounter.
 Being Serendipitous:
• personnel are sent to the field w/no
coordination...
They wander around—on your dime—until a
solution develops
You get degraded results, waste your time and
money, and you never establish professional
proficiency.

Five steps to planning
(and permit approval):
Establishing the boundaries of the field work
Locating sensitive sites and hazards
Determining how you will avoid or minimize
effects to sensitive areas (i.e. establish
protocols)
Instructing your working teams about how
they‟ll implement the protocols
Monitoring in-the-field performance
(somebody must be the “Coach”)

The Project begins. Money’s
on the line. Somebody has to:
Find the landowners
Establish their correct tract boundaries (for
permitting and ground control)
And you: must assume that all the
information that you carefully collected is
incorrect.

assume that all information is
incorrect, regardless of source

All sources have incorrect data:
• Tax assessors,
• Land companies,
• Digitized plats,
• Other public and private domain data.

Field Support in Three Parts

possible data

($), and

3) Tools that will help you get (and
make...) correct information

Your Problem: Taxing agencies draw
polygons to identify tracts, which is
how they send tax bills…
So, the shape and location of the
tract doesn‟t really matter to them.
Your Solution: current aerial
photography or satellite imagery,
ortho-rectified to obvious, photo-
identifiable ground control points.

Example:
up-to-date satellite image vs. air
photo vs. topo map
Satellite data have greater detail and
geometric fidelity. They are only a
few days old, and they‟re cheap.
Air photos are old, don‟t show recent
construction activity, new structures
or ponds.
Topo maps are even more out of date.

Red = Good
Yellow = Costing You Money

Accurate Cadastral Boundaries
 Corrected boundaries :
• Prevents trespass
• Builds confidence of landowners
• Plan source and receiver offsets in “no
permit” areas
• Provides surveyors with correct
mapping
• Provides client with correct land
mapping

Field Conditions
that Explode Your Budget:
 Terrain & relief (slope)
 Soil type & erodeability
 Vegetation (i.e. what it is, what it will cost
if damaged)
 Hydrologic features & drainage basins
 Weather
Arrange to get the right equipment in
position in advance of need.

Knowing Slope & Surface Geology
Avoids This....Vibes can’t maintain coupling
on steep, rocky slopes

Knowing hydrology will avoid running cables
through drainages multiple times

Know your hydrology & soil types
so you can identify liquefaction areas
(caused when vibes shake)

Know about new construction...without planning
ahead, your sampling points will have to be
dropped or offset “on the fly”.

Independent Explorationists:
 Lean operations, often rely on the work of
consultants for photogeology.
 Many could be using remotely sensed
data interactively.
 Work on hand is insufficient to support a
remote sensing specialist of their own.
 Some are familiar with photogeology.
 One RSPg project can high-grade enough
areas to support prospect-generation for
two or three years.

Preparing for a Photogeology Study:
 Objectives: frontier, previewing, to buy
leases or evaluate existing leases?
 What is the land type, topographic relief,
jungle, arid....
 Best platform.
 Cost, budget, savings.
 Time of year.
 Scales.
 Using same data for logistics and
documentation

The Future of Photogeology
 Image data is more accessible (in terms of speed
and storage) with CDs, smaller computers,
better software and training (more cross-
pollenization with other disciplines).
 Small, special-purpose satellites are taking the
place of large, multipurpose systems.
 There are no technological barriers to satellite
data design or use; only markets are lacking.
 Precision Agriculture will drive the remote
sensing market even more.

Important Issues for Remote Sensing
 Government space/business policy is
unstable…short-term government budgetary
processes make business‟ long-term planning
needs treacherous.
 Government interests are long-term but business
has short-term profit motives.
 Government/Industry partnerships are necessary
if our nation is to stay competitive…other nations
realize this critical need to cooperate and it is the
U.S.'s critical shortcoming.

In Conclusion….
 Seismic and well logs, gravity and basement magnetics can
confirm structures first detected photogeologically.
 Detecting rising hydrocarbons and hydrocarbon-induced
chemical changes in soils can be done remotely and
cheaply, especially as a lead tool.
 Select a contractor who speaks in terms you understand
and impose the same standards you apply to other tools.
 The need to constrain Landsat interpretations with all
available geologic data cannot be overemphasized.
 Remote sensing photogeology replaces no common tools;
rather, it aids in the planning and layout of more expensive
methods.
 Oil industry observers say “new technologies” will help
today‟s explorationist survive in the face of rising costs and
regulations. Few specify how, but it is clear that remote
sensing photogeology can lower finding costs.

From creekology to rocket science the evolution of remote sensing gis in oilgas exploration

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