דוקטורנטים מספרים - Kun Xiang

Improving current methods to discover oil and gas

Kun Xiang

Supervisor: Prof. Evgeny Lana

My name is Kun Xiang, and I am a doctoral student from the Department of Geophysics, in the Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Ever since the Industrial Revolution, humankind has been highly dependent on fossil fuels, even though today they are a worrisome source of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental hazards (e.g., air pollution). Unfortunately, in most areas of the world, we are still unable to rely exclusively on renewable energy such as solar and wind, which can help to ensure a more sustainable future. Therefore, until greener energy pathways become more widely available, fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, are still crucial to our daily lives. My study aims to find oil and gas reservoirs in the subsurface and make drilling placement via seismic methods. Seismic methods are generally based on the study of elastic wave propagation traveling through the earth. These waves are generated by explosions on the earth's surface. Since the industrial budget is limited on exploration work, using cost-efficient techniques is essential to finding the location of oil and gas reservoirs for industrial purposes. Hence, the primary focus of my work is to develop and employ cutting-edge techniques for improving seismic impedance inversion and subsequently for oil and gas reservoir characterization in the petroleum industry. As I pursue my Ph.D., the primary objective of my research is to derive a higher resolution of the impedance model. This research not only has great potential for the industry, but also can provide new insights related to the investigation of the earth’s physical properties.