Coda-wave interferometry analysis of time-lapse VSP data for monitoring geological carbon sequestration

Injection and movement/saturation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in a geological formation will cause changes in seismic velocities. We investigate the capability of coda-wave interferometry technique for estimating CO2-induced seismic velocity changes using time-lapse synthetic vertical seismic profiling (VSP) data and the field VSP datasets acquired for monitoring injected CO2 in a brine aquifer in Texas, USA. Synthetic VSP data are calculated using a finite-difference elastic-wave equation scheme and a layered model based on the elastic Marmousi model. A possible leakage scenario is simulated by introducing seismic velocity changes in a layer above the CO2 injection layer. We find that the leakage can be detected by the detection of a difference in seismograms recorded after the injection compared to those recorded before the injection at an earlier time in the seismogram than would be expected if there was no leakage. The absolute values of estimated mean velocity changes, from both synthetic and field VSP data, increase significantly for receiver positions approaching the top of a CO2 reservoir. Our results from field data suggest that the velocity changes caused by CO2 injection could be more than 10% and are consistent with results from a crosswell tomogram study. This study demonstrates that time-lapse VSP with coda-wave interferometry analysis can reliably and effectively monitor geological carbon sequestration.