QuakeMonitor™ Overview
With the current heightened concern from regulators, and the general public, over the real or perceived impact of unconventional oil and gas production operations on local seismic activity, Weir-Jones and their associates have developed a technically advanced, cost effective, and easily deployable recording system for collecting information about the induced seismicity asso
ciated with wastewater injection, fracking, geothermal, CO2 sequestration, and other earthquake recording applications. The standalone system is QuakeMonitor™ and it has been designed, developed, and implemented by a team of earth scientists and engineers who have worked in the induced seismicity monitoring and regulatory sector in the US, Canada and overseas for more than forty years. As of February 2015, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) requires operators to follow the “AER Traffic Light System – Duvernay Zone, Fox Creek” not only in the Fox Creek region, but also at other locations in the Province, see figure 1. These stipulate that if an earthquake occurs that is greater than local magnitude 4, 4.0ML, operators must inform AER and shut down operations. For events greater than 2.0ML, operators must inform AER and initiate a response plan, and for less than 2.0ML, no action is required. These regulations have been implemented because of the significant increase in the number of induced earthquakes in the several areas of Alberta where fracking operations are suspected to be
the cause. System Details
QuakeMonitor™ is a cost effective SmartSensor®* system that is easy to deploy, and inexpensive to operate. The key to the monitoring system is a unique and proprietary combination of on-board processing linked via satellite (or cellular modem) to a central processing center. QuakeMonitor™ is * SmartSensor® is a registered trademark of Weir-Jones Engineering Consultants Ltd. The system provides a rig operator with clear graphical reports which answers any questions the regulator may ask. The QuakeMonitor™ field recorder is supplied in a NEMA 4 environmentally sealed enclosure c/w solar panel, battery pack and the communications module as shown in the
Operational Support: providing installation support and maintaining a seismic network to monitor a given site on a 24/7 basis for a given period of time. Processing (collecting and processing the induced seismicity data to provide, at a minimum, graphical and numerical plots of daily events, cumulative number of events, local magnitudes, event distance from sensor location, and event timing. If three or more QuakeMonitor™ units are deployed, the data provided also includes estimates of event location and depth. All the data can be easily manipulated and viewed with a browser based interface, including detected event information and system state-of-health. The QuakeMonitor™ field recorder can digitize up to 6 analog inputs with 18bit
effective resolution. In addition, a MEMS accelerometer is included to record large magnitude events. A GPS receiver provides timing synchronization and self-location of the recording station. A cellular or satellite modem transmits detected event waveform data event time, and state-of health information to a central server. Three 4.5 Hz geophone sensors and 3-component MEMS sensors are mounted inside the main system enclosure. With the addition of a suitable connector, any available geophone/seismometer can be used with the system. The simple user interface consists of 3 LEDs (red, green, yellow) that indicate normal system operation or error conditions. No external devices are needed for system setup
or maintenance. QuakeMonitor™ is designed to record and report earthquakes in real time with magnitudes (ML) greater than 0.5, with detection levels down to ML 1.5 20 km from an installation. Setup time is less than 1 hour, with no need for special equipment, material, or tools. The system is easily installed at any production or disposal site and it provides information about induced seismicity at a fraction of the cost of equipment and services offered by other geophysical companies. The system starts at $8,000 for the seismic monitoring unit, the monthly monitoring and interpretation fees are about $1,000 per month: shorter term rentals are also available. QuakeMonitor™ provides a documented history of induced seismicity in the vicinity of fracking or waste disposal sites. This provides the operator with near real-time confirmation that all provincial, state, or federal regulatory requirements are being met. Based on the local seismic record, the operator can determine if operations should be modified by changing injection rates or zones, or if induced events are related to operations at a specific site, or if they are being caused by activities at some other unrelated operation. QuakeMonitor™ analyzes seismic event data either as a single-station, which gives only event
magnitude, distance and time; or as a network. Network analysis requires a minimum of 3 stations and provides a catalogue of seismic event locations and magnitudes in the region defined by the network. Independent stations are analyzed on a common time base to provide a catalogue of seismic event distances-from-station and magnitudes for each station. Single-station analysis are a lower cost approach if injection wells are few and widely spaced, and if the operator is confident that the regulator, or other stakeholders, will be satisfied with local magnitude and time information. Each injection well would have one seismic station in the vicinity and that station will provide event distance and local magnitude estimates. The distance-from-wellhead estimates are based on the time between P-wave and S-wave arrival, which are robust measurements with few sources of error. However, single-station analysis cannot determine an event location - only how far away it was. In some cases these may be sufficient to assign blame to another party, but it is not necessarily a conclusive argument. This approach provides the operator protection against a costly shutdown if a poorly located earthquake is attributed to their facility. The establishment of a network configuration and analysis can be a more cost effective approach if there are many injection sites in a small area, because monitoring costs are reduced. More importantly network analysis provides a more complete picture of seismicity by providing location and magnitude estimates based on three or more stations. This provides an additional layer of documentation in the event of any regulatory or 3rd party claim or investigation. Company Information
The QuakeMonitor™ team is made up of two specialized and highly qualified companies with many years of experience. The team consists of GeoEnergy Monitoring Systems, GeoEMS, Inc. of Los Alamos and Weir-Jones Engineering Ltd. The Principals and senior employees of both organizations have many years of international experience monitoring and interpreting natural and induced seismicity in connection with the oil and gas sector, mining and construction, and the military. The two companies have combined their intellectual resources to make QuakeMonitor™ available to operators and other stakeholders in the oil and gas sector. The purpose of QuakeMonitor™ is to provide unambiguous information to the community eliminating the uncertainties and misunderstandings which may arise in this part of the critically important energy sector. Weir-Jones Engineering Ltd. (WJE) was founded in 1971 by Dr. Iain Weir-Jones to provide specialized structural, geomechanical and system monitoring and testing services. Since its inception, WJE have been involved with the installation, manufacture, consultation, analysis and monitoring of geophysical and seismic data including the installation of a ShakeAlarm® Earthquake Early Warning System on the George Massey Tunnel in Vancouver, B.C., and at other locations in Canada and the United States. Weir-Jones has provided systems technical services to multinational clients in more than fifty countries, and develops proprietary technologies which are used to meet the specific needs of particular markets. These include ShakeAlarm® a robust and highly reliable earthquake early warning system, RockFall® a track hazard detection system used in the railroad industry. Personnel from GeoEnergy Monitoring Systems, Inc., GeoEMS have worked at various US Government National Laboratories, as well as at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly the Nevada Test Site), the EMRTE facility in Socorro, and the West Virginia National Mine Health and Safety Academy. The principals have specific experience in the detection, identification, and interpretation of both local and distant induced seismic events in North America and overseas. Together the companies offer a unique combination of experience in the field of seismic research, operational system development for multinational oil and gas companies in North America, Europe and the Middle East, and real-time hazard and risk monitoring for monitoring for clients around the world. We manufacture, and sell, various versions of QuakeMonitor, from a basic seismic alarm, to a fully customized seismic solution. Please feel free to reach out to us and start a discussion on your requirements! Further information about QuakeMonitor™ can be obtained by contacting Weir-Jones and
Associates:
[email protected]
