Oil and gas reservoir exploration based on hyperspectral remote sensing and super-low-frequency electromagnetic detection

Abstract. This paper proposes a method that combined hyperspectral remote sensing with super-low-frequency (SLF) electromagnetic detection to extract oil and gas reservoir characteristics from surface to underground, for the purpose of determining oil and gas exploration target regions. The study area in Xinjiang Karamay oil–gas field, China, was investigated. First, a Hyperion dataset was used to extract altered minerals (montmorillonite, chlorite, and siderite), which were comparatively verified by field survey and spectral measurement. Second, the SLF electromagnetic datasets were then acquired where the altered minerals were distributed. An inverse distance weighting method was utilized to acquire two-dimensional profiles of the electrical feature distribution of different formations on the subsurface. Finally, existing geological data, field work, and the results derived from Hyperion images and SLF electromagnetic datasets were comprehensively analyzed to confirm the oil and gas exploration target region. The results of both hyperspectral remote sensing and SLF electromagnetic detection had a good consistency with the geological materials in this study. This paper demonstrates that the combination of hyperspectral remote sensing and SLF electromagnetic detection is suitable for the early exploration of oil and gas reservoirs, which is characterized by low exploration costs, large exploration areas, and a high working efficiency.