Surface seismic to microseismic: An integrated case study from exploration to completion in the Montney shale of NE British Columbia, Canada

Unconventional resources such as shale and tight gas plays require engineering disciplines to develop solutions to achieve economic production levels. However, reservoir heterogeneity as seen in various forms of data has prompted for a better understanding of reservoir properties to optimize drilling and completion programs. Seismic methods for reservoir characterization were implemented in this study to achieve an improved understanding of these unconventional resources. Amplitude variation with offset inversion was performed to estimate the elastic properties that ultimately relate to the geomechanical properties important in hydraulic fracture stimulation. In addition, fault mapping was performed to identify potential barriers that could affect fracture propagation. The results were calibrated against microseismic monitoring data to validate the effectiveness of the seismically derived properties in the prediction of fracture behavior.