HR: 15:10h
AN: GP13A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Hydrocarbon Exploration Using Marine Controlled-Source EM
AU: * Constable, S
EM: sconstable@ucsd.edu
AF: Scripps Inst. Oceanography, IGPP MC 0225, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225 United States
AU: Key, K
EM: kkey@ucsd.edu
AF: Scripps Inst. Oceanography, IGPP MC 0225, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225 United States
AU: Behrens, J
EM: jbehrens@ucsd.edu
AF: Scripps Inst. Oceanography, IGPP MC 0225, La Jolla, CA 92093-0225 United States
AU: Weiss, C
EM: cjweiss@sandia.gov
AF: Sandia National Laboratory, PO Box 5800 MS-0750, Alburquerque, NM 87185 United States
AB: The seafloor dipole-dipole controlled-source EM (CSEM) method, pioneered over 20 years ago by Charles Cox, has recently been applied to the exploration of offshore hydrocarbon deposits. This timing has been driven mostly by the deeper water exploration environment, which favors the CSEM method, and the high cost of deep-water wells, which has reduced the potential barrier associated with non-seismic methods in the industry. The CSEM method is sensitive to thin resistive layers (hydrocarbon reservoirs, but also possibly other, less economical, geological targets) largely (but not totally) because of a galvanic response to vertical electric currents generated by the dipole source. Under industry sponsorship we have developed and built low power, low weight, highly reliable ocean-bottom electromagnetic (OBEM) recorders, and a deep-towed EM transmitter (Scripps Undersea Electromagnetic Source Instrument, SUESI). We have participated in several of the early trials of this method, and continue to provide instrumentation for industrial surveys. We will review the principles of the method and instrumentation, the sensitivity of CSEM to targets of interest, and present representative data sets.
UR: http://www.marineemlab.ucsd.edu
DE: 8105 Continental margins and sedimentary basins
DE: 0925 Magnetic and electrical methods
SC: Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism [GP]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting