Introduction to this special section: Life of the well

Abstract

One of the consequences of identifying economically viable hydrocarbon resources is the emplacement of production infrastructure that brings the resource to market. This complex system of anthropogenic artifacts — tanks, pipelines, power grids, etc. — and its natural degradation over time present a challenge for ongoing geophysical assessment of the oil field's state of health. In this special section, we highlight a selection of recent advances in seismic and electromagnetic (EM) technology to overcome the problems of anthropogenic overprinting for problems spanning the full lifecyle of the oil field, and in some cases, how that infrastructure can be used to facilitate an improved subsurface interrogation or to find renewed utility once production has ceased.