AccScience Publishing / JSE / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/JSE026040015
ARTICLE

Processing four-dimensional vertical seismic profiling in the CO2CRC Otway Stage 4 Project

Alina Almukhametova1* Konstantin Tertyshnikov1 Nikita Beloborodov1 Olivia Collet1 Boris Gurevich1 Roman Isaenkov1 Mustafa Al Marzooq1 Pavel Shashkin1 Mikhail Vorobev1 Roman Pevzner1
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1 School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Centre for Exploration Geophysics, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
Received: 25 January 2026 | Revised: 4 April 2026 | Accepted: 16 April 2026 | Published online: 26 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Long-term containment assurance is critical for regulatory approval and public acceptance of geological carbon dioxide (CO2) storage, placing strict requirements on the repeatability and robustness of time-lapse seismic monitoring over multi-year operational periods. Multi-well vertical seismic profiling (VSP) using distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) offers a compact, repeatable monitoring option; however, long-term deployments can be compromised by non-geological changes, such as altered surface optical routing, interrogator artifacts, or fiber integrity loss. The CO2CRC Otway Stage 4 Project provides a relevant test case because non-repeatable acquisition conditions occurred between the baseline and monitor surveys. This study presents the processing and initial evaluation of a four-dimensional (4D) VSP dataset acquired in February 2025, following the injection of approximately 10 kt of CO2-rich gas into the Paaratte Formation (~1,500 m depth) via the CRC-3 injector. Processing was adapted from the previous Otway DAS-VSP monitoring workflow, with cross-vintage comparability improved through well-specific channel alignment, including correction for time-varying channel shifts. The workflow further included cross-equalization and Wiener matching to reduce residual source–signature differences and improve repeatability, wavefield separation, and in-house Kirchhoff migration. Time-lapse analysis of migrated volumes and root mean square difference attributes computed over the injection interval shows coherent anomalies at CRC-4 and CRC-5 that are geometrically consistent with the Stage 4 injection interval, although no usable 4D data were available from the injector well CRC-3. CRC-6 exhibits no coherent anomaly. An anomaly near CRC-7 is spatially separated from the injector and is likely due to the continued evolution of CO2 plumes from previous Otway injections. These results demonstrate that multi-well 4D DAS-VSP can provide robust qualitative detection and delineation of plume-related seismic anomalies under substantial acquisition non-repeatability, strengthening conformance monitoring workflows for long-term CO2 storage.

Keywords
Four-dimensional vertical seismic profiling
Distributed acoustic sensing
Carbon dioxide storage
Funding
This research was supported by CO2CRC Limited, its industry members and research partners, and by the Australian and Victorian Governments through various funding programs. The Curtin Reservoir Geophysical Consortium (CRGC) provided funding for the PhD research projects. The Otway Stage 4 program received funding from Low Emissions Technology Australia for the seismic monitoring project, RITE for the microbubble injection project, and from ExxonMobil, BP, BHP, and the Australian Federal Government for the GFV project.
Conflict of interest
Boris Gurevich and Roman Pevzner are Editorial Board Members of this journal, but were not in any way involved in the editorial and peer-review process conducted for this paper, directly or indirectly. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Journal of Seismic Exploration, Electronic ISSN: 0963-0651 Print ISSN: 0963-0651, Published by AccScience Publishing