Onshore oil and gas reservoir detection through mapping of hydrocarbon microseepage using remote sensing

Abstract

Remote sensing is one of an advance technology that can be used for detecting hydrocarbon microseepage onshore. One of the advantage is specialize in rapid and low cost detection. Remote sensing technique namely multispectral scanner can overview the characteristic of seepage system as an exploration indicator of subsurface hydrocarbon. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyse the microseepage system as indication of subsurface hydrocarbon accumulation using a multispectral imagery. The hydrocarbon-induced surface alterations of soil and sediments (clay-carbonate, ferric iron, ferrous iron) and associated anomalous vegetation were used as parameters. This research used Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 multispectral imagery combine with the Directed Principal Component Analysis method to detect mineral alteration also using vegetation normalization to detect vegetation anomalies. The results of this study indicate the distribution of hydrocarbon microseepage distributed in area around Sungai Kenawang and Pulau Gading field, and also linear distributed in Merang River and Lalan River.