SIMULATION STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF FREQUENCY AND MEDIUM RESISTIVITY ON THE PROPAGATION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC (EM) WAVE

This project is to investigate the effect of frequency and resistive medium on
the propagation of EM waves for application in Seabed Logging. Seabed Logging is
an application of the marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) method that
is used to directly detect and characterize possible hydrocarbon-bearing prospects.
The CSEM method has been used for a long time before, but the application as a
direct hydrocarbon indicator is relatively new. The central idea of SBL is the guiding
of electromagnetic energy in thin resistive layers within conductive sediments. Even
though it has been well known for a long time that electromagnetic signals can
propagate from a conductive region to another via resistive regions such as air or
resistive parts of the lithosphere, its application in hydrocarbon exploration has not
been developed until recently. [1] This might be due to the uncertainty of getting any
significant response from thin resistive layers such as hydrocarbon reservoirs since
electromagnetic energy is highly attenuated in conductive sediments. CST
(Computer Simulation Technology) software will be used in this project to model an
antenna and the EM waves. The parameters such as the EM wave's frequency and
types of resistive medium used will represent the actual offshore enviroment. From
the result of the simulation, it shows that different frequency will give different
reading at the receiver. Lower frequency will gives higher magnitude of B-Field at
the receiver. And medium resistivity with higher resistivity will respond and reflect
the EM energy to the receiver.