American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015 - 75

data for a microseismic event. Once identified, it would have to be pulled, picked
and verified before it could be located
correctly.
This process takes an analyst 20-30
minutes to perform in real time, and in
some cases, an additional 10-20 minutes
of reprocessing time before the fault can
be identified and operations stopped to
assess the best course of action. If the
moment tensor was calculated automatically, however, this fault could be identified in a few minutes or even seconds,
potentially saving time, energy and completion materials.

Real-Time Stress Analysis
The automatic moment tensor inversion
algorithm also allows for real-time analysis
of in situ stress conditions during treatment.
With a full moment tensor, it is possible
to calculate the compression (P) and
tensile (T) axes and evaluate their distributions on a stereographic net as the data
come in from the field.
In practice, the T axes are used to indicate the minimum compressive stress
direction, and the P axes indicate the
maximum compressive stress direction.
The distribution of the P and T axes
should, therefore, reflect the in situ and/or
regional stresses during hydraulic fracturing operations, providing valuable information to the operator's decision-making process during treatment.
In the case of the Eagle Ford well, the
data indicate that the regional stress field
was the dominant factor controlling the
strike-slip class events. However, results
were less clear for the dip-slip class
events, which may be the result of interplay

between the in situ and regional stresses.
Further analysis could define full stress
inversions of the focal mechanism data
and evaluate temporal variations in the
stress field during treatment.
The ability to model source mechanisms automatically in real time is a
critical component for real-time operational
decision making. Automatic source mechanism calculation has been shown to accurately describe source mechanisms
while also enabling automatic modeling
of a full moment tensor in real time. This
enables rapid identification of geohazards,
allowing treatment decisions to avoid

O I L

G A S

such features, saving time and resources.
Determining full moment tensors also
provides stress information in real time,
which allows an operator to more efficiently and confidently make on-the-fly
changes to treatment plans. Having a deterministic moment tensor for each event
in a microseismic catalog enables smarter
reservoir modeling and greater recovery
optimization.
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MICHAEL
KRATZ

Michael Kratz is a technical support
geophysicist at MicroSeismic Inc. in
Houston, responsible for special projects and commercializing new passive
microseismic-related technologies. He
joined the company in 2010, and previously served as a data analysis team
leader and geophysicist. Kratz holds
a B.S. in geology from the University
of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and is pursuing
an M.S. in geophysics and seismology
from the University of Houston.

MENT
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AUGUST 2015 75

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015