Application of remote geologic analysis to gas exploration in Morgantown Energy Technology Center's Study Area 1, West Virginia

Pacific Northwest Laboratory's Remote Geologic Analysis (RGA) system uses a unique, automated pattern-recognition approach to identify potential fracture zones (of any dip from vertical to < 40{degree}) by coplanar analysis of their geomorphic expression in digital models of topography. For its first oil and gas-related field trial, the authors applied the RGA system to the fracture characterization of Morgantown Energy Technology Center's Study Area 1 in the Big Sandy gas field in southwestern West Virginia. They selected this site to blind test their technology because of the characterization data available from well drilling, gas production, and seismic surveys. The Morgantown staff used these data and performed a geologic analysis of the region coincidentally but separately from their fracture analysis to ensure that they did not introduce bias into their interpretations. Their structure and isopach maps show significant trends in the faulting and folding of the producing formations that control production volumes, which correlate well with the principal interpreted fracture sets from their results. Three fracture sets for the Big Creek, West Virginia, 1:24,000 quadrangle parallel major geologic structures that are associated with basement faulting (steep dip, northeast trend) and thrust faulting (60{degree} dip, northwest trend). These structures appear, in combinationmore » with anticlinal folding, to enhance gas production. To date, only the most prominent fracture planes from their analyses have been correlated with the large-scale structural features (basement faulting) in the study area. The next step in this field trial will be to determine if lesser planar features from their analyses correlate with the detailed structural geology and regional geomorphology of the rocks exposed at the surface.« less