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WA

WA Technical talk

Wednesday, September 12, 2018
17:30
19:00

Using microgravity to monitor groundwater storage and usage in an urban woodland environment – Kings Park, Western Australia

Alan Aitken, UWA 

2018 PESA ASEG WA Annual Golf classic

Friday, November 9, 2018
10:30
lateoclock

PESA ASEG 31th annual Golf Classic 2018

Friday 9th November at the Araluen Golf Resort

The Classic is one of the most pleasant and well-attended oil and mineral industry golf tournaments held in Perth with recent years enjoying attendances of 100 + players.This year we have selected the tournament to be held at,Araluen Golf Resort, on Friday 9th November 2018. Built high up in the Roleystone hills, the fairways are lush, and the greens are smooth, undulating and fast. The course presents wondrous views of wooded valleys below, with some holes stretching from the tee over the horizon. Some of you may recall the challenge and beauty of this course from recent years of the PESA-ASEG Golf Classic.

ASEG / PESA Members: $160

Non-members: $210

There are limits on player numbers, so early registration is advised.

More details here

2018 SEG/AAPG Distinguished Lecturer: Satish Singh

Tuesday, August 7, 2018
17:30
19:00

Seismic Full Waveform Inversion for Fundamental Scientific and Industrial Problems.

Seismic waveform inversion is a powerful method used to quantify the elastic property of the subsurface. Although the development of seismic waveform inversion started in the early 1980s and was applied to solve scientific problems, it became popular in industry only about 15 years ago. One of the key elements in the success of seismic waveform inversion has been the increase of the acquisition of long offset seismic data from 3 km in the early 1990s to more than 15 km today. Not only did long offset data provide refraction arrivals, but it also allowed recording of wide-angle reflections, including critical angles, providing unique information about the subsurface geology.

In this talk, I will elaborate on the early development of the seismic full waveform inversion (FWI) and its application to solve fundamental scientific problems. The first big success of FWI was its application to gas hydrate reflections, also known as bottom simulating reflection (BSR), which showed that the
BSRs are mainly due the presence of a small amount of free methane gas, not a large amount of hydrates stored above the BSR, and hence the total amount of methane stored in marine sediments should be much less than previously estimated. A second major success of FWI was its application to quantify the characteristics of the axial melt lens observed beneath ocean spreading centers. The seismic full waveform inversion results show that one can distinguish between pure melt and partially molten mush within a 50 m thick melt lens, allowing to link the melt delivery from the mantle with the hydrothermal circulation on the seafloor. The application of full waveform inversion to spreading center problems has become an important area of research.

Unlike in sedimentary environment, the seafloor in general scientific environment could be very rough and water depth could be deep, making it very difficult to use the conventional method of background velocity estimation. To address this issue, the surface seismic data could be downward continued to the seafloor, as if both streamer and sources were placed on the seafloor, similar to land geometry. This method allows to bring the refraction starting from zero offset to far offset, which is extremely useful for full waveform inversion of first arrivals. The downward continuation also allows to reduce the seafloor diffraction, increase the moveout of reflection arrivals, and enhance wide-angle reflections, all important for seismic full waveform inversion. The application of a combination of downward continuation and FWI has allowed to quantify gas anomalies in sedimentary basins and fluids at subduction fronts. The waveform inversion also has been used to monitor CO 2 sequestration.

I will explain the intricacy of FWI, based on the physics of waves, specifically the role of amplitudes and converted waves in addressing fundamental scientific problems. The presentation should interest professionals working in the oil and gas sectors, or crustal studies and global seismology.

More details and biography.

Date City Address
30 July Brisbane  
1 August Canberra Scrivener Room, Geoscience Australia, CANBERRA
2 August Victoria Kelvin Club, 18-30 Melbourne Place, MELBOURNE
7 August Adelaide Coopers Alehouse, 316 Pulteney St ADELAIDE
8 August Sydney The University of Sydney
14 August Hobart CODES Conference Room, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay
15 August Perth Ground Floor, 1 Ord St, WEST PERTH

EAGE Workshop: Continuous Improvement in 4D Seismic

Wednesday, October 10, 2018
09:00
17:00

EAGE Australasian Workshop on Continuous Improvement in 4D Seismic

4D seismic is well established for monitoring of conventional reservoirs during production. Approaches vary from occasional repeat streamer surveys to frequent monitoring by means of permanent surface or seabed arrays of receivers. The industry has had most success to date with oil fields, but application of 4D seismic to gas fields is also becoming the norm. Successful 4D programs add substantial value by allowing multi-discipline subsurface teams to update their models, optimise the field drainage plan, and avoid drilling unnecessary or poorly-sited wells. However, the demands of increasingly complex reservoirs, and the imperative to contain costs in the current industry climate, require continuous improvement in 4D surveying, processing and evaluation technologies.

The workshop will update on the latest ideas, technologies and industry practice in 4D seismic reservoir monitoring, especially related to industry challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. It will be a perfect avenue to exchange experiences through networking, share dynamic discussions on theoretical aspects, best practices and case studies.

The EAGE calls upon geoscientists and engineers interested in planning, executing and evaluating reservoir monitoring programs using 4D seismic to contribute to the technical programme. Speakers interested to present at the workshop are welcome to contact Event Manager, Ruth Dass with a title and brief abstract before Friday, 27 July 2018.

More details here

EAGE Course: The Benefit of Broadband Technology for Reservoir Characterization and Imaging – the End-User Value

Wednesday, July 18, 2018
09:00
17:00

The Benefit of Broadband Technology for Reservoir Characterization and Imaging – the End-User Value

Course description

The main aim of this course is to provide a very accessible overview of the many concepts behind broadband seismic (primarily offshore) and its implication for the reservoir focused asset based geoscientist. This will be done through the a very comprehensive set of case study material from all regions of the world and for various stages of the exploration, appraisal and development asset life cycle. The course aims to objectively discuss the various broadband seismic technologies and commercial offerings available today and their respective merits with regards to quantitative reservoir characterization and reservoir imaging using real world application examples. The course will further attempt to identify possible pitfalls and issues with regards to the treatment of broadband data that might lead to flawed or erroneous QI.

 

Course objectives

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to understand the value of broader bandwidth seismic data in general and for quantitative reservoir analysis from interpretation to rock property estimation in particular. The course is intended to be very applied and hands on and will only review the very basic concepts of inversion based rock property analysis and quantitative interpretation but will otherwise focus on examples to illustrate the benefit of extended bandwidth seismic.

 

Course outline

  • What is broadband seismic?
  • Potential benefits
  • Exploration case studies
  • Appraisal development case studies
  • What next?

 

Participants' profile

The course is designed for geoscientists with a basic level of geophysical knowledge, including a general knowledge of towed streamer acquisition and processing methods but the content is designed to be accessible for most geoscientists working with or interested in using broadband seismic in their day-to-day working life. In other words, definitely no requirement for expert knowledge.

More details here

EAGE Course: Rock Physics for Quantitative Seismic Reservoir Characterization

Thursday, July 5, 2018
09:00
17:00

Rock Physics for Quantitative Seismic Reservoir Characterization

Course description

This course covers fundamentals of Rock Physics ranging from basic laboratory and theoretical results to practical “recipes” that can be immediately applied in the field. We will present quantitative tools for understanding and predicting the effects of lithology, pore fluid types and saturation, saturation scales, stress, pore pressure and temperature, and fractures on seismic velocity. We will present case studies and strategies for quantitative seismic interpretation and, suggestions for more effectively employing seismic-to-rock properties transforms in reservoir characterization and monitoring, with emphasis on seismic interpretation for lithology and subsurface fluid detection.

Course outline

  • Introduction to Rock Physics, motivation, introductory examples
  • Parameters that influence seismic velocities - Conceptual Overview
  • effects of fluids, stress, pore pressure, temperature, porosity, fractures
  • Bounding methods for robust modeling of seismic velocities
  • Effective media models for elastic properties of rocks
  • Gassmann Fluid substitution – uses, abuses, and pitfalls
  • derivation, recipe and examples, useful approximations
  • Partial saturation and the relation of velocities to reservoir processes
  • The importance of saturation scales and their effect on seismic velocity
  • Shaly sands and their seismic signatures
  • Granular media models, unconsolidated sand model, cemented sand model
  • Velocity dispersion and attenuation; Velocity Upscaling
  • Rock Physics of AVO interpretation and Vp/Vs relations
  • Quantitative seismic interpretation and rock physics templates.
  • Example case studies using AVO and seismic impedance for quantitative reservoir characterization

 

Participants' profile

The course is recommended for all geophysicists, reservoir geologists, seismic interpreters, and engineers concerned with reservoir characterization, reservoir delineation, hydrocarbon detection, reservoir development and recovery monitoring.

More details here

 

SEG DISC Short Course: Accompanying technical talk

Thursday, July 12, 2018
17:30
18:00

Finding and exploiting correlations between 3D seismic, log, and engineering data using machine learning or

The future requirements of integrated E&P: Shallow learning – but deep thinking!

Kurt Marfurt's SEG DISC will tour Australia between 11 and 25 July. After each day-long course, Kurt will speak at selected branch technical nights. These talks may be attended by members and non-members alike as with any technical night.

 

Date City Address
12 July Perth Ground Floor, 1 Ord Street, West Perth
17 July Adelaide Tuesday 17th July at the Hotel Tivoli at 265 Pirie St, Adelaide
19 July Melbourne  
24 July Canberra  
26 July Brisbane  

Please check this page for updates on course locations and times in your city. Some of these talks will talk place over lunch.

The day-long course is aimed at:

  • Seismic interpreters who want to extract more information from their data.
  • Seismic processors and imagers who want to learn how their efforts impact subtle stratigraphic and fracture plays.
  • Sedimentologists, stratigraphers, and structural geologists who use large 3D seismic volumes to interpret their plays within a regional, basin-wide context.
  • Reservoir engineers whose work is based on detailed 3D reservoir models and whose data are used to calibrate indirect measures of reservoir permeability.
  • Team leaders who wish to identify advances in machine learning technology that promise improved efficiency and accuracy in the integration of large data volumes.

WA Technical night: Alan Aitken

Wednesday, September 12, 2018
17:30
19:00

Modelling Microgravity for Groundwater Storage, Kings Park

Young Professionals: Mentoring

Wednesday, June 20, 2018
17:30
19:00

Mentoring program meeting

WA Technical night: Chris Wijns

Wednesday, June 13, 2018
17:30
19:00

Exploration geoscience inside the mine gate

Standard practices in exploration geoscience can add value in resource definition and inside mining operations. Mineralogical and geometallurgical proxies are available through multi-element geochemical assays. Petrophysical suites can sometimes provide timely substitutes for assays. Drill feedback parameters are directly influenced by the rock and hence contain information on rock mechanical properties. Finally, it must be recognised that even very dense drilling vastly undersamples an orebody, and geophysics is the only avenue for filling in the space between drill holes. Furthermore, the bulk sampling of geophysics can provide rock characterisation that is often already at a scale suitable for mine operations.

Chris Wijns has been the Group Geophysicist since 2008 for First Quantum Minerals Ltd, a global copper miner. Previously, he held a similar role with gold company Resolute Mining. Chris studied geophysics degrees in Canada, and worked in gold exploration in West Africa before moving to Australia in 1999, where he completed a PhD in 2004. He has enjoyed working inside sizeable companies for the opportunity to have constant interaction with geologists, geochemists, and assorted engineers and metallurgists. Chris enjoys the challenge of bringing research results into the mining and exploration industry, as well as finding opportunities for geophysics to add value to mine development and operations.

Please register here.

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