Seismic risk analysis of small earthquakes induced by hydrocarbon production in the Netherlands

conference paper
In the northern parts of The Netherlands, the exploitation of gas fields has induced small earthquakes. These induced earthquakes have occasionally caused damage to buildings. A workflow was developed in order to evaluate the seismic risk of the exploitation of hydrocarbon fields. A Bayesian analysis was performed to investigate the correlation between the reservoir properties and production specifics of the fields and the occurrence of induced earthquakes. Based on geomechanical and reservoir production key parameters, a probability of that induced seismicity will occur can be assigned to an individual hydrocarbon field. Probable ground motions for average surface conditions were obtained from a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. Next, the impact of local soil conditions was taken into account by analysing the site response of shallow soil profiles. Finally, the relation of ground motions and probability of damage was investigated, using data on damage during past induced erathquakes. In this extended abstract a concise overview of this workflow is presented.© 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers.
TNO Identifier
425119
ISBN
9781617386671
Source title
72nd European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers Conference and Exhibition 2010 - Incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2010, 14 June 2010 through 17 June 2010, Barcelona. Conference code: 81997
Pages
3788-3793
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