A scaled experiment for the verification of the SeaBed Logging method

SeaBed Logging (SBL) is an application of the marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) method that is used to directly detect and characterize possible hydrocarbon-bearing prospects. Although the CSEM method has been used by academia for more than three decades, the application as a direct hydrocarbon indicator was first introduced about five years ago. The central idea of SBL is the guiding of electromagnetic energy in thin resistive layers within conductive sediments. Even if it has been well known for a long time that electromagnetic signals can propagate from a conductive region to another via resistive regions such as air or resistive parts of the lithosphere, the application to hydrocarbon exploration has not been developed until recently. This might be due to the uncertainty of getting any significant response from thin resistive layers such as hydrocarbon reservoirs since electromagnetic energy is highly attenuated in conductive sediments. Thus, during the early development phase of the SBL technique, a scaled laboratory experiment was performed to validate if a thin resistive layer (e.g. hydrocarbons) buried within conductive media (e.g. sediments) could be remotely detected by using electric dipoles as sources and receivers. Data from this experiment were compared to a forward modelling code for layered media, and the comparison showed good agreement between experimental and theoretical results. This suggested that thin resistive layers buried in conductive media are detectable due to the guiding of the electromagnetic field within the resistor. The successful results were vital for realizing the application of marine CSEM as a hydrocarbon exploration technique. We here present the results of the first scaled SBL experiment.