IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2020 - 117

and other measures, the ground subsidence of the oil field
is gradually stopped.
From the beginning of the deformation to complete control and recovery, the process is long. It is worth noting that,
since it takes time for the deformation of the underground
reservoir to be transmitted to the surface, this deformation
may continue after the completion of mining. Second, the
causes of deformation by oil and gas exploitation are more
complex than those related to mining. The main cause of deformation observed in open-pit mining areas is the mining
of mineral products. However, because oil and gas mining
areas are underground and have complex geological conditions, they are usually accompanied by groundwater mining,
tectonic movement, and seasonally frozen soil. The deformation results obtained from monitoring must be comprehensively analyzed with hydrogeological data. Third, the range
of deformation caused by oil and gas field development is
wide. In addition to the oil production operation area, the
surrounding area and the water pumping area also have the
possibility of surface deformation. Fourth, the deformation
caused by oil and gas extraction is usually accompanied by
disasters, such as earthquakes.
The complex deformation characteristics have some
technology requirements when monitoring the deformation of oil and gas fields. First, it is necessary to regularly
monitor the surface deformation of oil and gas fields to
grasp the deformation information in time. The objects of
oil and gas fields are flowing throughout the exploitation
process, and the conditions of the reservoir are constantly
changing. Therefore, the entire monitoring process of oil
and gas field deformation is a process of continuous understanding and improvement.
Second, long-term monitoring is required in oil and gas
production areas, and the monitoring results must meet
high-density sampling points. The deformation measurement of oil and gas extraction does not directly contact the
ore body, which is different from the deformation measurement of mineral resource extraction. Therefore, monitoring the deformation caused by oil and gas production
is mainly done to track the surface deformation information and then to establish a functional relationship or geomechanical model between reservoir fluid changes and
surface deformation in combination with geological conditions and other factors. These studies and analyses can
better predict the deformation trend, which is supported
by a large amount of monitoring data and measurement
point density.
Finally, large area measurement techniques are needed
for monitoring. This is because oil and gas fields cover a
wide area and the production area is generally composed of
multiple fault blocks and reservoirs. Usually, different companies carry out joint production. Obviously, monitoring
the entire oil and gas field is a heavy job.
In short, the deformation of oil and gas production
areas requires long-term monitoring with the help of highprecision, large-area measurement techniques to better
JUNE 2020

IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE

formulate a reasonable development plan. Techniques commonly used for surface deformation monitoring include
precision level, tilt, and GPS measurements, among others.
Tiltmeters generally must be buried 3-4 m underground to
ensure accurate local measurements, which increases monitoring costs. In addition, this technology has the problem of
drift. In leveling, the accuracy decreases with the distance
from the reference point, and there is no horizontal displacement measurement. In the face of the special monitoring environment, if the level point is not easy to preserve,
then it should be treated with anticorrosion and other
special methods.
In using GPS technology for deformation monitoring,
the location of GPS points must not only fully consider the
satellite observation environment and electromagnetic interference but also avoid locations with large environmental changes and measurement marks that are difficult to
save permanently. GPS measurement can provide 3D displacement data, but vertical displacement data generally
cannot meet the accuracy requirements of reservoir deformation monitoring. It can be seen that, for these contact
ground subsidence technologies, monitoring the deformation of the entire oil and gas field requires high monitoring
costs and human resources. These traditional monitoring
technologies can obtain the deformation information only
of discrete points and cannot guarantee an overview of the
entire deformation area within a limited monitoring cost.
Moreover, traditional monitoring methods have high requirements for the monitored environment.
In actual monitoring, people have gradually discovered
the limitations and shortcomings of these traditional deformation monitoring methods, which will inevitably affect
the understanding and research of oil and gas deformation
[87]. In this situation, the emergence of InSAR technology
fully highlights its unique advantages and complements
the shortcomings of traditional monitoring technology.
InSAR technology is very suitable for large-scale surface deformation monitoring, such as oil and gas fields.
InSAR MONITORING OF OIL AND GAS
MINING DEFORMATION
Most of the world's oil and gas fields are in remote and
poor environments, where communication systems are
relatively underdeveloped. The harsh natural environment and difficult working conditions pose great challenges to the traditional deformation monitoring of oil
and gas exploration areas. This situation has been reversed
with the technological breakthrough of InSAR. As a new
type of space-to-Earth observation technology, InSAR
offers a wide monitoring range and high precision compared with traditional monitoring methods. In particular,
it has unique advantages in monitoring the entire area of
small surface changes and is very suitable for deformation
monitoring in oil and gas exploration areas. It can make
up for the shortcomings of traditional methods for joint
monitoring with traditional means. This technology is a
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IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2020

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