Electromagnetic Surveys for Petroleum Exploration: Challenges and Prospects

Igor Buddo (), Ivan Shelokhov, Natalya Misyurkeeva, Maxim Sharlov and Yury Agafonov
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Igor Buddo: Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Ivan Shelokhov: Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Natalya Misyurkeeva: Institute of the Earth’s Crust, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 664033 Irkutsk, Russia
Maxim Sharlov: SIGMA-GEO, 664039 Irkutsk, Russia
Yury Agafonov: SIGMA-GEO, 664039 Irkutsk, Russia

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 24, 1-16

Abstract: Transient electromagnetic (TEM) surveys constitute an important element in exploration projects and can be successfully used in the search for oil and gas. Different modifications of the method include shallow (sTEM), 2D, 3D, and 4D (time-lapse) soundings. TEM data allow for solving a large scope of problems for estimating resources and reserves of hydrocarbons, discriminating reservoir rocks, detecting tectonic features, and characterizing drilling conditions. TEM surveys are applicable at all stages, from initial prospecting to production, and are especially efficient when combined with seismic surveys. Each stage has its specific objectives: estimation of net pay thickness, porosity, and fluid type during prospecting, optimization of well placement and prediction of drilling conditions in exploration, and monitoring of flooding during production. Electromagnetic soundings resolve permafrost features well and thus have a high potentiality for exploration in the Arctic petroleum province. At the first reconnaissance stage of regional prospecting in East Siberia, electromagnetic and seismic data were used jointly to map the junction of the Aldan basin (part of the Aldan-Maya foredeep) with the eastern slope of the Aldan uplift and to constrain the limits of Neoproterozoic sediments. The TEM-based images revealed reservoir rocks in the Upper and Middle Neoproterozoic strata. TEM data have implications for the amount of in-place oil and gas resources in prospects, leads, and plays (Russian categories D 1–3 ) at the prospecting and exploration stages and contingent recoverable reserves (C 2 ) during exploration (latest stage). The contribution of the TEM survey to oil and gas evaluation is quantified via economic variables, such as the value of information (VOI) and expected monetary value (EMV).

Keywords: oil and gas fields; resources and reserves of hydrocarbons; reservoir properties; transient electromagnetic soundings; seismic survey; processing and inversion; East Siberia; Arctic (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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