System and method for determining sub surface geological features at an existing oil well site
First Claim
1. A method for determining subsurface geological features at an existing oil well site having a well bore disposed through strata to a given subsurface layer depth for recovering crude oil in a fluid reservoir at said subsurface depth but horizontally remote from said well bore, the method comprising:
- a) from multiple positions on the terrain surface, transmitting immediately in the far field a sequence of pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals focused at a target depth, wherein the signals combine to cover a target area of a formation layer that lies between the terrain surface and said given subsurface layer containing the fluid reservoir defining a scan, the target area having a center offset horizontally from the well bore;
b) receiving reflections from the target area in response to the sequence of transmitted pulsed energy beam signals impinging thereon, the reflections being characteristic of particular media located within the target area being impinged upon by the immediately transmitted far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals;
c) correlating the received reflections from said target area over a given time interval for a given scan to determine relative changes in intensities of reflections over said target area for a given scan;
d) storing the scan data for each scan in memory;
modifying transmit parameters in at least one of frequency, focus depth, and phase shift and repeating steps a)-d) to generate volume data for each layer up to said given subsurface layer;
identifying particular media and their location within the volume according to the scan data, wherein the identifying includes identifying the location of crude oil relative to other of the particular media.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An array of electromagnetic receiver antennae is arranged and operated in conjunction with the operation of an array of far field electromagnetic transmitter antennae for mapping subsurface features of an existing well site reservoir. Mapping is performed according to the relative intensities, frequencies, phase shifts, and/or other reflected signal parameters of the reflections received by the receiver antennae (relative to the transmit signals) associated with a given location or target area within a reservoir so as to aid in determining the geological features about an oil deposit for an existing oil well.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for determining subsurface geological features at an existing oil well site having a well bore disposed through strata to a given subsurface layer depth for recovering crude oil in a fluid reservoir at said subsurface depth but horizontally remote from said well bore, the method comprising:
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a) from multiple positions on the terrain surface, transmitting immediately in the far field a sequence of pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals focused at a target depth, wherein the signals combine to cover a target area of a formation layer that lies between the terrain surface and said given subsurface layer containing the fluid reservoir defining a scan, the target area having a center offset horizontally from the well bore; b) receiving reflections from the target area in response to the sequence of transmitted pulsed energy beam signals impinging thereon, the reflections being characteristic of particular media located within the target area being impinged upon by the immediately transmitted far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals; c) correlating the received reflections from said target area over a given time interval for a given scan to determine relative changes in intensities of reflections over said target area for a given scan; d) storing the scan data for each scan in memory; modifying transmit parameters in at least one of frequency, focus depth, and phase shift and repeating steps a)-d) to generate volume data for each layer up to said given subsurface layer; identifying particular media and their location within the volume according to the scan data, wherein the identifying includes identifying the location of crude oil relative to other of the particular media. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for determining subsurface geological features at an existing oil well site having a well bore disposed through strata to a given subsurface layer depth for recovering crude oil in a fluid reservoir at said subsurface depth but horizontally remote from said well bore, the method comprising:
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a) a plurality of transmit antennae located at multiple positions on the terrain surface, the antennae transmitting immediately in the far field a sequence of pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals focused at a target depth, wherein the beams combine to cover a target area of a formation layer that lies between the terrain surface and said given subsurface layer containing the fluid reservoir defining a scan, the target area having a center offset horizontally from the well bore; b) a plurality of receive antennae located at multiple positions on or below the terrain surface, the receive antennae receiving reflections from the target area in response to the sequence of transmitted pulsed energy beam signals impinging thereon, the reflections being characteristic of particular media located within the target area being impinged upon by the immediately transmitted far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals; c) a processor adapted to correlate the received reflections from said target area over a given time interval for a given scan to determine relative changes in intensities of reflections over said target area for a given scan; d) memory for storing the scan data for each scan; e) a controller for modifying transmit parameters in at least one of frequency, focus depth, and phase shift for each of a plurality of selected target depths to thereby define a scanned volume for each layer up to said given subsurface layer; wherein the processor identifies particular media and their location within the volume according to the scan data, including identifying the location of crude oil relative to others of the particular media. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification