APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING AND CIS FOR OIL EXPLORATION-A CASE STUDY FROM CAUVERY BASIN

Abstract

Hydrocarbons, which include oil and gas, are major fuel of the present time. The exploration, prospecting and development of hydrocarbons involve enormous capital investment. This led to growing interest in scientific investigations that can provide reliable methods for the detection of petroleum occurrence and certainty of information related to structure and productivity of deposits, as well as to facilitate their rational development. The ever-growing inflow of remote sensing data from satellite enables one to regularly obtain imagery. It is possible to gather information about any part on the earth. Remote sensing of geological objects for oil and gas exploration has assumed an important place. In any oil exploration project, complex and large amounts of data are involved. These should be properly managed and used. If meaningful conclusions are to be achieved the use of a Geographic Information System can prove to be handy. Conditions, such as, presence of source rock, reservoir rock and cap rock, are necessary for formation and accumulation of petroleum. These are checked for occurrence of oil fields. The approach for oil exploration may be direct or indirect. In the direct approach the oil fields can be located on the basis of oil seeps. Indirect approach includes geological, geophysical and geo-chemical approaches. In the present work geological approach has been adopted and discussed. To demonstrate the applicability of remote sensing and GIS for oil exploration projects, Cauvery Basin has been taken in the present work. The remote sensing and other collateral data has been utilized for analyzing the basin for oil occurrence using MGE iv GIS package. In this study fifteen circular remote sensing anomalies have been identified. These morphological anomalous areas are probable zones for the occurrence of oil and gas. Six of these coincide with presently known oil fields. Others need to be confirmed by geophysical surveys and drilling.