Abstract

As activity heats up in the Delaware Basin, a number of issues have become important topics of discussion: (1) How to deal with highly variable surface conditions that create near-surface velocity problems that propagate to imaging difficulties at depth, (2) the karst environment in the western Delaware Basin can be a hazard to drilling and construction activities, (3) the demand for water is increasingly important as more and more drilling takes place. These issues unto themselves would not be thought of as exploration problems, but they certainly affect the activities that support all aspects of exploration. Having a tool kit that could provide data to help resolve one of them, much less all of them, would be seen as having great benefit in the Delaware Basin. Airborne Electromagnetics is being shown to be of great value for this purpose. Satellite interferometry can monitor surface deformation to forecast the impact on drilling and infrastructure.

Airborne Electomagnetics (AEM) are being flown in the Delaware Basing using a helicopter-borne system that is hung underneath a helicopter. The results of these surveys produce profiles of relative resistivity to a depth of about 300 feet and the profiles are compiled into maps and volumes of resistivity. The aim of the interpretation of these resistivities is to relate them to their sources – e.g., an air-filled void is highly resistive, a brackish reservoir is highly conductive (resistivity and conductivity are inverses), a shallow pocket of unconsolidated material is resistive and has low velocity. The interpretation is guided, or at least calibrated, by other data such as well logs.

On a larger scale, features such as sink-holes can be associated with ground subsidence which can be measured and monitored from satellite data to precisely determine changes in ground elevation over time. Besides drilling operations, it is important to have a detailed understanding of such hazards during road, rail, power line and pipe line construction and management activities.

Examples of each of the above targets will be shown and discussed. Ongoing projects continue to generate updated information and as much new data as possible will be shared in the talk. This talk is relevant to anyone operating in the Delaware Basin.