The Statistical Fingerprint of Fluid-Injection Operations on Microseismic Activity at the Val d’Agri Oil Field (Southern Italy)

Tony Alfredo Stabile () and Luciano Telesca
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Tony Alfredo Stabile: Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council of Italy, 85050 Tito, PZ, Italy
Luciano Telesca: Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council of Italy, 85050 Tito, PZ, Italy

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: In this paper, we examined the dynamical properties of the fluid-injection microseismicity at the Val d’Agri oil field (southern Italy) by applying different statistical methods to find correlations and common periodicities with injection parameters, such as injected volumes and injection pressure. Two periods of observation were analyzed: (1) from 2006 to 2015 (the first 10 years after the beginning of injection operations), the seismicity was recorded by the seismic network of the ENI company that manages the exploitation of the oilfield; (2) from 2016 to 2018, the seismicity was recorded by a denser seismic network capable of significantly reducing the completeness magnitude. If a significant correlation between seismicity and fluid-injection variables was found in the first period, in the second period, the seismic activity and injection variables were characterized by common periodicities after the reservoir acidification and for injection rates above 1900 m 3 /day. Finally, we applied and compared two different approaches proposed in the literature to forecast the maximum expected magnitude. The results showed that one of the approaches yielded an estimated maximum magnitude of M max = 1.7 ± 0.4, which is consistent with the maximum observed magnitude.

Keywords: fluid injection; induced seismicity; statistical analysis; microseismicity; seismicity rate; expected maximum magnitude (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: 2023
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