My Research
My research covers broad spectra of the exploration geophysics techniques and applications. The seismic techniques include seismic inversion, modeling, migration and time-lapse seismic analysis. The applications include petroleum exploration, CO2 sequestration and enhanced geothermal system.
Current projects
Multi-component seismic data analysis
A new research project is set up to use multi-component seismic dataset to characterize subsurface anisotropic properties.
A new research project is set up to use multi-component seismic dataset to characterize subsurface anisotropic properties.
Tuscaloosa Marine Shale
My most recent research project comes DOE funded project “Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Laboratory”, which is focusing the evaluation of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) reservoir in Louisiana and Mississippi (Figure 3(a)). TMS is an Upper Cretaceous source rock formation sandwiched between the sands of the upper and lower Tuscaloosa sections (Figure 2(b)). The TMS is believed to be the source rock for underlying prolific Tuscaloosa sand formation. The TMS has an unproven estimate of 7,000,000,000 bbls of recoverable oil (John et al. 1997) while its current total average production is about 3,000 bbls of oil per day in 2017 (Figure 2(c)). In the past several decades, several operators have been unsuccessful in the TMS play. The preliminary core analysis by industry partners and a few literature studies (Besov et al. 2017; Lu et al. 2015; Lu et al. 2011) shows that the TMS is one of the most clay-rich and sensitive shales to water. Due to these and other technical problems there is high risk for the development of TMS compared to other shale plays (Figure 2(d)). Our task in this project is to gain more knowledge of the TMS and develop more advanced geophysical techniques to lower the costs and improve the accuracy, such prediction of the reservoir zone with high value of the TOC.
My most recent research project comes DOE funded project “Tuscaloosa Marine Shale Laboratory”, which is focusing the evaluation of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) reservoir in Louisiana and Mississippi (Figure 3(a)). TMS is an Upper Cretaceous source rock formation sandwiched between the sands of the upper and lower Tuscaloosa sections (Figure 2(b)). The TMS is believed to be the source rock for underlying prolific Tuscaloosa sand formation. The TMS has an unproven estimate of 7,000,000,000 bbls of recoverable oil (John et al. 1997) while its current total average production is about 3,000 bbls of oil per day in 2017 (Figure 2(c)). In the past several decades, several operators have been unsuccessful in the TMS play. The preliminary core analysis by industry partners and a few literature studies (Besov et al. 2017; Lu et al. 2015; Lu et al. 2011) shows that the TMS is one of the most clay-rich and sensitive shales to water. Due to these and other technical problems there is high risk for the development of TMS compared to other shale plays (Figure 2(d)). Our task in this project is to gain more knowledge of the TMS and develop more advanced geophysical techniques to lower the costs and improve the accuracy, such prediction of the reservoir zone with high value of the TOC.
Adaptive wavelets extraction
Seismic data is non-stationary because of many wave propagation effects. Time/depth variant wavelets extraction can help to accommodate such effects in the inversion processing for improved resolution.
Zhang and Fomel (2017)
Seismic data is non-stationary because of many wave propagation effects. Time/depth variant wavelets extraction can help to accommodate such effects in the inversion processing for improved resolution.
Zhang and Fomel (2017)
Time-lapse seismic analysis
Time-lapse seismic surveys refer to repeated seismic surveys, which can help to capture the subsurface rock properties changes. However, it could be very difficult to keep the consistence of the repeated surveys with baseline survey, which could cause problematic utilization of the time-lapse seismic data. We plan to improve the reliability of the time-lapse seismic analysis, especially two kinds of seismic attributes: amplitude and travel-time.
Zhang et al. (2013)
Time-lapse seismic surveys refer to repeated seismic surveys, which can help to capture the subsurface rock properties changes. However, it could be very difficult to keep the consistence of the repeated surveys with baseline survey, which could cause problematic utilization of the time-lapse seismic data. We plan to improve the reliability of the time-lapse seismic analysis, especially two kinds of seismic attributes: amplitude and travel-time.
Zhang et al. (2013)
Seismic diffraction
We are able to model the diffraction waves caused by inhomogenious small size feature in subsurface and aiming to use the diffraction wave to characterize the properties of the inhomogenious features.
Zhang et al. (2015)
We are able to model the diffraction waves caused by inhomogenious small size feature in subsurface and aiming to use the diffraction wave to characterize the properties of the inhomogenious features.
Zhang et al. (2015)