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Satellite remote sensing for hydrocarbon

exploration in new venture areas

Conference Paper · July 2015

DOI: 10.1109/IGARSS.2015.7326417

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 SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING FOR HYDROCARBON EXPLORATION IN NEW
VENTURE AREAS

Federico Frassy1*, Pieralberto Maianti1, Andrea Marchesi1, Francesco Rota Nodari1, Giorgio Dalla
Via2, Riccardo De Paulis3, Paolo G. Biffi3, Marco Gianinetto1*
1
Laboratory of Remote Sensing (L@RS), Politecnico di Milano - Department of Architecture, Built
Environment and Construction Engineering (ABC), Via Ponzio 31, 20133 Milano, Italy
2
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Osservatorio Vesuviano, Via Diocleziano 328, 80124
Napoli, Italy
3
Eni SpA - Upstream & Technical Services, Via Emilia 1, 20097 San Donato Milanese (Milano), Italy
*Corresponding authors: e-mail: federico.frassy@polimi.it, marco.gianinetto@polimi.it

ABSTRACT exploration techniques, while satellite remote sensing can

Multispectral remote sensing is an emerging technology for
the oil & gas industry. Since its first application, Earth
Observation has seen an enormous breakthrough in a brand-
new field such as geosciences for hydrocarbon exploration:
both the awareness of the microseepage phenomenon and
data processing methods for its detection have greatly
improved in the last years. This paper describes a case study
of microseepage signals detection in the East Africa Rift
System, onshore of Lake Albert, using multi-sensor satellite
time series. Results clearly show that the spectral anomalies
identified from satellite are closely related to the known
oilfields and that the microseepage maps can provide new
high-quality data to reduce exploration risk.
Index Terms— microseepage, hydrocarbon
exploration, satellite remote sensing, multispectral imagery
1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, Earth scientists and exploration geologists
consider remote sensing techniques a very useful tool for
basin-wide assessment of favorable areas. Airborne and
satellite sensors are considered a successful information-
provider when integrated with other exploration tools such
as seismic, well, gravity and magnetic data [1]. The fields of
application of optical remote sensing range from onshore oil
slick detection [2] to offshore oil spill monitoring [3], and
hydrocarbon exploration. During recent years, several major
oil companies such as Shell [1][4], ExxonMobil [5],
PetroChina [6] or Petrobras [7][8], manifested serious
interest in Earth Observation technologies for hydrocarbon
exploration, especially in the management of exploration
and production operations in remote areas not easily
accessible by airplane or ground. These environments
represent a serious challenge for traditional hydrocarbon
quickly provide information over wide areas at limited costs.
A well-known phenomenon associated with hydrocarbon
reservoirs is the leakage of hydrocarbons from deep
accumulations to the surface, known as seepage [9].
Hydrocarbon seepage is generally categorized in two
different phenomena: macroseepage and microseepage. The
first being fluxes of oil seeps reaching the surface and
accumulating in visible quantities, while the second type
consists of feeble volatile hydrocarbon migrations. Different
authors reported that long-term upward leakage of
hydrocarbon can induce local alterations of the surface
(compared to the background) due to geochemical and
biochemical processes induced by microbial activity [10].
So far, optical remote sensing has been successfully used
for both macroseepage direct detection [5] and
microseepage indirect detection [1][7]. Microseepage-
related geochemical alterations mainly focus on three
different aspects:
i) Clay mineral alterations;
ii) Bleaching of red beds;
iii) Carbon content variations.
Hydrocarbon microbial oxidation on the surface terrain
produce carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphuric acid (H2S) and
other organic acids [10] which alter illitic clays into
Caolinite. For example, Segal and Merin [11] suggested the
use of Landsat multispectral data to highlight Caolinite-rich
terrains. When microbial activity takes place on ferric oxide
(Fe2O3) rich terrains, the consequence is a reduction from
ferric to ferrous oxide which produces the chromatic
alteration known as bleaching of red beds, a phenomenon
that can be identified through the analysis of the reflective
spectral bands [1][12]. The detection of carbonates and
carbonate cements increase compared to surrounding
background [9] is possible as well, as suggested in Van der
Meer et al. [1].

978-1-4799-7929-5/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE 2884 IGARSS 2015

Figure 1: Overview of the study area.
Besides geochemical effects, several authors focused on
the geobotanical effects of microseepage. The first studies
on the influence of hydrocarbons on vegetation date back to
the 90s [13][14] which report stress-related symptoms due to
gas exposition on plants. Noomen [4] and Lammoglia and
Souza-Filho [8], recently confirmed the influence of
hydrocarbons on vegetation.
2. TEST SITE AND DATA
The study area are five licensed acreages of the Lake
Albert basin. Lake Albert lies at 2° N in the East Africa Rift
System (EARS) between Uganda and Democratic Republic
of the Congo, at a mean altitude of 620 m (Fig. 1). The land
surrounding Lake Albert is rich in biodiversity and on the
Ugandan side partly a designated protected area. Much of
the land is exploited for agriculture (crops and livestock)
and human settlements, while the lake provides fish for the
surrounding communities and beyond [15]. Lake Albert
occupies the northernmost rift basin in the western rift valley
of the EARS, composed of a series of linked half-graben
basins, many of which are currently occupied by large lake
systems. Geophysical data and radiometric dating suggest
that these basins formed at the beginning in the Miocene
[16].
The remote sensing study of the Lake Albert basin was
carried using the following multi-sensor data set, imaged
from 1999 (prior discoveries) to 2008:
2885
Figure 2: Lake Albert’s microseepage anomaly map
generated using multi-sensor satellite imagery.
i) Landsat-7/ETM+ time series made of 21 images
collected from 1999 to 2003 (SLC-on), belonging to path
172 and rows 58/59;
ii) One ASTER multispectral image (ASTL1B
0102190836051107280005) collected on 19 February 2001;
iii) Two high spatial resolution QuickBird images (IDs
1010010008C1C300 and 1010010008D8AD00) collected
on 31 October 2008 and 23 November 2008.
3. METHODS
The multi-sensor and multi-temporal data set required
pre-processing in order to harmonize the different kind of
data. First, all the images were re-projected in the same
geographic reference system (UTM Zone 36N, WGS-84).
Then, standard radiometric calibration and atmospheric
correction using the ATCOR® 2/3 radiative transfer model
[17] were applied to retrieve spectral reflectance from at-
sensor radiance values.
According to recent studies [1][5-9][12], microseepage
signals were detected by exploiting the statistical and
spectral properties of data imaged in the visible, near
infrared and shortwave infrared spectral regions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. A final filtering was applied to
smooth irrelevant local signals and emphasize the main
anomalies potentially correlated to hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Figure 3: Lake Albert’s microseepage anomaly map with
overlaid oil and gas fields and licensed acreages (adapted
from: [18]).
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The microseepage anomaly map generated from satellite
(Fig. 2) was compared with the following ancillary data (not
used during data processing):
i) The map of oil and gas fields and licensed acreages
from Petroleum Exploration and Production Department
(PEPD) [18] (Fig. 3). Almost all the known onshore fields
have been detected in the microseepage anomaly map.
Starting from the actually northernmost licensed acreage, we
can clearly see that in the Lyec-Paara-Buliisa discovery area
the microseepage anomaly signals perfectly matches with
known oilfields. The satellite signals also point out two areas
placed in the western and northern part of the licensed
acreage where actually no detailed information are available.
Karuka and Taitai fields, actually not licensed but known as
hydrocarbon discoveries, shows microseepage anomalies as
well. Kaiso-Tonya discovery area shows once more an
interesting correspondence between satellite anomalies and
oilfields, even if the Mputa oilfield seems shifted from the
spectral anomaly;
ii) The Geological map of Uganda [19] (Fig. 4)
confirmed that all main microseepage anomaly signals are
included in sediments from Pleistocene to Holocene, with
the exception of a small signal on the North-West shore of
Lake Albert that seems located on basement complex. Its
eastern boundary is crossed by a rift fault that splits the
sediments from the basement;
2886
Figure 4: Lake Albert’s microseepage anomaly map with
overlaid geological map (adapted from: [19]).
iii) The Bouguer anomaly map of the Albertine Graben
obtained from 800 line-kilometer of gravity survey [18]
(Fig. 5). The comparison between gravity data and satellite
microseepage signals shows that all the largest anomalies are
mainly located in areas characterized by high gravity
gradients;
iv) The structural framework of the Albertine Graben
map (Fig. 6) [18] shows the depocenter locations, almost
placed inside the Lake Albert. However, the satellite
anomalies near the Paara discovery area appear to be placed
close the only relevant depocenter located outside Lake
Albert. This map also confirms the fault near the satellite
signal located between the sediments and basement
(compare with the geological map).
Results clearly show that the spectral anomalies
identified from satellite are closely related to the known
oilfields. Consequently, microseepage maps can provide
new high-quality data, complimentary to traditional
geophysics, at affordable cost, and without the need of
exploration licenses to help the oil & gas industry reducing
exploration risk.
5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was supported by Eni SpA under Grant Nr.
3500005681/2010 “Validazione di metodologia di analisi
multidisciplinare di dati telerilevati con sensori ottici,
finalizzate all’individuazione di fenomeni di microseepage
d’idrocarburi riconducibili alla presenza di giacimenti
profondi”.
 Figure 5: Lake Albert’s microseepage anomaly map with
overlaid the Bouguer anomaly map (adapted from: [18]).
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Figure 6: Lake Albert’s microseepage anomaly map with
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