Publication Date:
2014-12-12
Description:
While scientists are paying increasing attention to the seismicity potentially induced by hydrocarbon exploitation, little is known about the reverse problem, i.e. the impact of active faulting and earthquakes on hydrocarbon reservoirs. The recent 2012 earthquakes in Emilia, Italy, raised concerns among the public for being possibly human-induced, but also shed light on the possible use of gas wells as a marker of the seismogenic potential of an active fold-and-thrust belt. Based on the analysis of over 400 borehole datasets from wells drilled along the Ferrara-Romagna Arc, a large oil and gas reserve in the southeastern Po Plain, we found that the 2012 earthquakes occurred within a cluster of sterile wells surrounded by productive ones. Since the geology of the productive and sterile areas is quite similar, we suggest that past earthquakes caused the loss of all natural gas from the potential reservoirs lying above their causative faults. Our findings have two important practical implications: (1) they may allow major seismogenic zones to be identified in areas of sparse seismicity, and (2) suggest that gas should be stored in exploited reservoirs rather than in sterile hydrocarbon traps or aquifers as this is likely to reduce the hazard of triggering significant earthquakes.
Electronic ISSN:
2195-9269
Topics:
Geography
,
Geosciences
