The use of passive seismic interferometry for the monitoring of subsurface fluids – from shallow groundwater to native or storage gas reservoirs

Abstract

Passive (ambient noise) seismic interferometry provides multiple ways to gather information about the subsurface seismic properties using recordings of the seismic ambient noise signal. While the first developments and applications of this method showed a useful capacity to either image geological contrasts or monitor the structural properties of the soil, an increasing momentum is observed toward applications related to fluid monitoring of different types (liquid, gas), at all the scales of the subsurface (from meters to kilometers). In this paper we summarize the existing possibilities and technics of seismic interferometry analysis for subsurface fluid detection and characterization and elaborate on their respective deployment in different contexts. We also present a new approach based on estimating and continuously measuring seismic attenuation proxy within interferometric-based surface wavefields, which show a high sensitivity to fluid dynamics and the associated petrophysical variations. The method is illustrated through a field case study related to geological gas storage monitoring, and we elaborate on its potential respective deployment at the industrial scale and for different applications.