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Coastal & Marine Geology Program > Center for Coastal Studies > Subsidence and Fault Activation Project

Subsidence and Fault Activation Related to Fluid Energy Production, Gulf Coast Basin Project

Subsidence Related to Fluid Energy Production Home
Introduction:
Project Overview
Investigators
Research Objectives:
Production Parameters
Reservoir Parameters
Framework
Ground Characterization
Geophysical Methods
Land Loss
Publications
Project Contact:
Bob Morton

Task 1: Investigate threshold values for production parameters and select candidate fields

Problem

Preliminary studies of oil and gas fields in the Gulf Coast Basin indicate that subsidence and reactivation of faults can only be detected after the fields have produced several decades and the total volume of produced fluids (oil + gas + formation water) exceeds several million barrels of oil equivalent.

Objectives

  • Obtain accurate estimates of threshold values for production parameters that correlate with surface expression of subsidence and fault activation
  • Identify which large oil and gas fields may have caused subsidence by screening electronic databases for fields with production values that exceed the threshold values

Methods

  • Identify several reservoir and production parameters that correlate with the surface expression of subsidence and fault activation. Parameters considered to be potentially diagnostic include:
    • Production duration
    • Cumulative fluid production
    • Production rate
    • Reservoir depth
    • Pressure decrease in reservoir
    • Rate of pressure decline
  • Compare these threshold values to values of large oil and gas fields

« Investigators | Reservoir Parameters »

Coastal & Marine Geology Program > Center for Coastal Studies > Subsidence and Fault Activation Project


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Updated March 21, 2005 @ 03:30 PM (JSS)