Oil and gas prospecting by ultra-sensitive optical gas detection with inverse gas dispersion modelling

Abstract

We report a new oil and gas prospecting technique based on measurements of sub-part-per-billion ethane concentration in the atmosphere and local wind data. The sensitivity of our sensor enables detection, from a range of several km, of the naturally occurring ethane seepages that accompany hydrocarbon reservoirs. Using the concentration and wind data, the gas dispersion process is inverted to provide 2 maps of surface ethane flux over several hundred km2. Within a desert environment, we demonstrate the technique is capable of locating a controlled release and corresponds with the results from a geochemical soil sampling survey conducted over the same oil field. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.