High resolution P-Cable 3D seismic study of pockmarks and shallow fluid conduits at the Snøhvit reservoir in the SW Barents Sea

The Snøhvit hydrocarbon reservoir in the SW Barents Sea is one of two storage sites of CO2 on the Norwegian Margin. Within the context of the ECO2 project we acquired bathymetric and P-Cable high resolution 3D seismic data to characterize fluid flow phenomena on the seabed and in the shallow subsurface and better understand the pathways and mechanisms related to fluid flow. Two P-Cable high resolution cubes were obtained in summer 2011 and one of them was partially repeated in summer 2013. The objective of the time-lapse survey in 2013 was mainly to develop the P-Cable technology into an effective monitoring technology at CCS sites. In the first survey from 2011, we observe two different kinds of pockmarks. Several hundreds of small circular pockmarks, the 'unit' pockmarks (UPs), occur scattered over an area of about 14 km2. They are up to 20 m in diameter and approximately 1 m deep. In addition, seven larger, semi-circular to elliptic pockmarks, the 'normal' pockmarks, (NPs) align along a NW/SE direction. Pockmarks are often found within glacial plough marks and have affected their internal structure. A clinoform system in the subsurface shows multiple high-amplitude anomalies indicating the presence of gas in shallow sediments. Eastern edges of clinoforms are usually N/S or NW/SE oriented and their orientation often coincides with the direction of alignment of NP 2-6. Clinoforms may thus act as fluid flow pathways and determine the location of NPs at the seabed. UPs can be associated in strings developing to the sides of NPs. The strings seem to follow the same orientation as fractures or underlying vertical weakness zones. Pockmark genesis can be related to various factors but the abundance of plough marks at the seabed suggests a mechanism related to iceberg scouring at the seafloor during ice retreat. Pockmark formation is thus not a contemporary phenomenon but a paleo-event probably linked to a deglaciation.