An unconventional method for exploration of oil and gas

It is well-known that the exploration of hydrocarbons (oil and gas) has been playing a major role in the world economy. Excessive exploration activities have pushed the reservoirs of oil and gas either into hard terrains such as thrush, folds, basalts and sub-basalts or several kilometers deep into the surface of the earth. Traditional seismic methods and equipment are not sufficient to ensure the exploration of hydrocarbons around the world due to their low sensitivity in low frequency bands and low signal to noise ratio (SNR). Features of Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) accelerometers show the capabilities of replacing traditional equipment. In addition, exploration of hydrocarbon can be more significant by using passive seismic acquisition. This paper proposes a MEMS accelerometer utilizing capacitive sensing designed in standard SOI MUMPs technology. The proposed accelerometer will be used for exploration of oil and gas using passive seismic acquisitions.