Overview of the Violet Grove CO₂ seismic monitoring project

Donald C. Lawton, Marcia L. Couëslan, Fuju Chen, Henry C. Bland, Michael J. Jones, Eric V. Gallant, Malcolm B. Bertram

In March 2006, the baseline seismic program was completed at the Penn West CO₂ injection and monitoring pilot in west-central Alberta. The reservoir is the Cardium Formation in the Pembina field, and the reservoir depth at the pilot site is 1640 m. Highfold multicomponent seismic data were collected along three 2D lines (two parallel, one orthogonal) and from eight triaxial geophones that were cemented into an observation well at the site. All geophones were kept live for all shots of the program, and data quality was excellent. The surface seismic data were processed as individual 2D lines as well as a sparse 3D survey; the data from the downhole geophones were processed as walkaway vertical seismic profiles. The reservoir is a low-amplitude event on P-P and P-S sections and data volumes and shows little structure. Few passive seismic events were recorded in the first 6 months of monitoring. The first monitor survey is scheduled for January, 2006.