Patent ID: 9442205
Filing Date: 2016-09-13
CPC Classification: G01V

Claim Text:
1. A method of monitoring or assessing the effectiveness of a fracking operation in a well, comprising: deploying and activating an array of seismic sensors near or around a well that is to be fracked; determining at least an initial seismic or acoustic velocity model for a first volume near or around the well that is to be fracked; determining a fracking stage transmissive volume by illuminating a permeability field near or in the first volume by pumping gas or fluid into the well at pressures sufficient to cause slip on pre-existing fractures but not sufficient to cause new fractures; employing near-well tomographic fracture imaging methods to process continuously or near-continuously seismic data that have been or are being acquired or recorded during said illumination of said permeability field near or in the first volume; generating images corresponding to initial transmissive fractures and faults located in the first volume to determine a geometry of a pre-existing first fracture or fault network in, or in the vicinity of, the first volume that is characteristic of an initial permeability field; carrying out a first fracking stage in the well and near or in the first volume, where a suitable fluid or gas is pumped into at least the first volume at a pressure sufficient to cause new fractures; employing near-well tomographic fracture imaging methods to process continuously or near continuously seismic data that have been or are being acquired or recorded near the at least first volume that is being fractured in the first fracking stage; employing near-well tomographic fracture imaging methods to generate images representing fractures or faults created by the first fracking stage, and determining a second volume and geometry of a second fracture and fault network that has been created by the first fracking stage, and that is characteristic of a resulting new stage permeability field.