Bell Creek Test Site - Expanded Baseline and Time-Lapse 3-D Surface Seismic Survey Completed
A campaign of 3D surface seismic surveys was conducted at the Bell Creek oil field, consisting to date of three overlapping surveys. The initial 40-square-mile preinjection baseline survey was acquired in late 2012 and covered a large part of the oil field, including a significant buffer area outside the field boundary and was used to enhance the geologic characterization of the field. Two subsequent surveys have been acquired. The first was a 10.4-square-mile time-lapse survey shot in October 2014 and was primarily focused on obtaining a visualization of the CO2 that had been injected in Bell Creek Phase 1 and the western part of Phase 2. The result proved that CO2 could be clearly seen in the relatively thin Muddy Formation reservoir using surface seismic and established that surface seismic at Bell Creek would serve a useful role as part of an overall MVA (monitoring, verification, and accounting) strategy to better understand CO2 sweep efficiency, effective storage capacity, and vertical and lateral flow boundaries in the field. With this successful result, a subsequent survey was designed to expand the preinjection baseline to include the entirety of Phases 46 and provide time-lapse coverage of Phase 3 and all of Phase 2. This milestone report marks the completion of the expanded baseline and time-lapse 3D surface seismic survey.View/Download Document