As Australia transitions to renewable energy, there remains a growing need to optimise existing gas production fields to meet growing global energy demand.
Advances in extraction technologies, such as enhanced gas recovery (EGR) injection techniques, have made many production optimization projects feasible across the country, but these efforts face significant challenges, including high costs, technical complexity, environmental regulations, regulatory barriers, reservoir variability and safety risks.
Cameron Grant, chief commercial officer at STRYDE, explains: “Australia's onshore fields are significantly smaller than their offshore counterparts, but still hold significant potential for domestic and international gas markets. Addressing the challenges associated with EGR technology requires financial prudence, careful planning, technical expertise and effective risk management to ensure the success and sustainability of enhanced gas recovery projects.”
Obtaining a work permit requires compliance with a complex regulatory framework set by federal, state or territory governments, and industry authorities. This division of regulatory responsibilities often creates delays and uncertainty for energy projects. Additionally, permits must address landowner, environmental and social concerns, necessitating thorough environmental impact assessments and community consultation.
Addressing these challenges requires a collaborative effort involving government agencies, developers, operators, supply chain stakeholders, environmentalists and affected communities. It is therefore essential to reach a consensus to identify viable solutions that prioritize environmental protection while enabling sustainable resource development.
As such, seismic data has emerged as an affordable, environmentally friendly solution to guide reservoir optimization decisions. Recent advances in technology have enabled companies to obtain high-resolution subsurface imagery with minimal environmental impact and at a lower cost than was previously thought possible.
“This is why Pad3D is making its debut into the Australian market,” said Brendon Mitchell, managing director of seismic solutions company Oceania Geo.
“Using high quality seismic to de-risk production optimisation is a no-brainer – it costs around AUD100,000-250,000 to obtain a seismic to de-risk a 3-5 square kilometre multi-well pad development where horizontal wells can cost upwards of $2 million per well.
“Pad3D is a bespoke production enhancement solution delivered by Oceania Geo, leveraging STRYDE's cutting edge seismic technology. The service provides high resolution seismic data to identify production enhancement opportunities by rapidly delivering drill-ready subsurface imagery for time-critical drilling decisions.”
“The solution utilises low-impact seismic source and receiver technology that minimises environmental impact and land destruction, playing a key role in obtaining work permits and accessing land to be surveyed.”
“At the core of the new product is the STRYDE Node™, the smallest, most cost-effective seismic sensor on the market today. This compact, wireless technology is designed for deployment in any land environment, enabling companies to quickly survey areas with existing infrastructure while minimizing land disturbance. This approach facilitates the creation of the high-resolution subsurface images needed to make informed production optimization decisions,” Grant added.
Mitchell adds, “Until recently, sensitive environments constrained by cultural heritage regulations and limited land access posed challenges to seismic data acquisition, resulting in sparse data acquisition, which in turn resulted in irregular and limited geometries, increasing processing complexity and interpretation difficulties.”
By deploying more receivers at a cost comparable to traditional surveys, denser seismic coverage can be achieved with less environmental impact. This approach eliminates blind spots, speeds the process and improves the accuracy of subsurface images. It makes it possible to map challenging shale, coal and sand formations in complex operational and access conditions, such as those commonly found in unconventional deposits in Queensland's coal seam gas fields and other basins across Australia.
Pad3D has recently been trialed by Oceania Geo in collaboration with STRYDE and Earth Signal Processing for Galilee Energy. The solution was deployed to demonstrate the feasibility of acquiring small-scale 3D seismic surveys using low-cost, low-environmental-impact technology for well planning and field optimization in Australia.
The project focused on providing structural and geological certainty through 3D imaging, mitigating disruption to the environment and cultural heritage, and navigating existing infrastructure whilst executing quickly in line with planning and pad development schedules. Mitigating Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) risks was therefore paramount and this was achieved through reduced manpower, smaller equipment and faster operation times.
The results speak for themselves:
Field Work: Six crews worked 400 hours, completed in 7 days with no incidents. Vehicles: Two 4x4s, one ATV, one tractor and one Bobcat were on site each day. Receiver Spacing: Two crews deployed 800+ STRYDE Nodes™ per day at 15 meter intervals. ⁻4935 Live Receiver Patch – 75 meter RL x 15 meter RP Source Operation: Two types of weight drop sources were used – the WD1400 (custom designed by Oceania Geo) and the GPEG500 designed for superior shallow and deep imaging. 800+ source points per source per day were imaged at 15 meter intervals. ⁻2415 Source Points – 150m SL x 15m SP Fast Processing: Fast processing volume was delivered just 7 days after last node harvest (Fast processing volume is useful for identifying immediate drill targets, evaluating early exploration results, or making early project decisions. It provides a preliminary view of the subsurface and helps expedite exploration or development activities).
Mitchell concluded: “The final data resolution exceeded expectations, stayed well within budget constraints, and successfully navigated the complexities of an innovative, yet technically complex, watershed design.”
“The use of STRYDE nodes in our Pad3D solution made this project possible and the results we achieved in Galilee Energy's pilot project show its success. We look forward to deploying this solution to help more companies maximize hydrocarbon recovery in their existing oil fields.”
In addition to oil and gas development, STRYDE and Oceania Geo have unlocked new exploration opportunities in the mining, geothermal and other renewable energy sectors across Australia.
Read the latest issue of OGV Energy magazine here
Release date: August 13, 2024
