The use of passive seismic exploration to identify oil-bearing reservoirs in the Udmurt Republic, Russia

Abstract

The level of oil production in the Udmurt Republic is currently experiencing a declining trend due to the depletion of large and medium-sized oil fields that have been in operation for a long time. Therefore, the main challenge in this region is to stabilize & increase oil extraction by means of exploring more promising oil fields of a smaller size. However, some issues cause difficulties. Firstly, 2D and 3D seismic data often do not provide the reliable mapping of small fields. Secondly, geological prospecting and exploration, along with exploratory drilling, make these works costly. Furthermore, the estimation of the reserves for such deposits often contains errors. Passive seismic exploration is proposed as a solution to these problems, reducing exploratory and exploitation drilling costs, with the time required for geological exploration also being diminished.