​Data Processing and Inversion for Seismic While Drilling and Mining Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing and Machine Learning

The Challenge

For drilling applications, seismic recording within the vicinity of a drilling rig can be challenging due to the dynamic nature of the drilling operation and the abundance of noise sources such as pumps, shakers, generators, and trucks. As drilling deviation is a common issue in the development of resource fields, SWD guides the drilling operation to navigate the subsurface and infer geological information. Most existing SWD methods require recording the drill bit signature, a reference measurement, to enable decoding of the drill bit noise from the passively recorded data and differentiate it from other noise sources. The decoding is achieved by cross-correlating a continuously recorded reference measurement with other receivers to imitate an active seismic survey. (Meehan, 1993; Miranda et al., 1996; Naville et al., 2004). However, current downhole recording options are memory-based and do not allow real-time high-bandwidth telemetry (Glubokovskikh et al., 2021). Hence, our research aims to develop methods independent of constraining data acquisition requirements and can be scaled up for large data acquired with DAS.

Proposed Solution

The research project aims to develop non-invasive methods for processing and analysing continuously recorded passive seismic data using DAS. Various physics-based methods, machine learning and their applications will be investigated to infer information about the subsurface, thus providing valuable information for data-driven decision-making for resource exploration.

Proposed Benefits to WA

As major mineral discoveries have declined over the past decade, accompanied by higher exploration complexity and higher demand (S&P Global Market Intelligence, 2022), mineral prices continue to rise. Thus, higher demand and prices create an economic opportunity for WA revolving around expanding exploration efforts, which may bring environmental impact using traditional exploration methods. The proposed research can provide effective non-invasive exploration methods that would:

• Enable exploration of resources efficiently to match the increasing demand.
• Reduce the environmental impact through shifting reliance on extensive drilling practices and preserving valuable natural resources such as water.
• Shift valuable financial resources to sustainable exploration methods.
• Provide opportunities for human resource development.