Results from two years of resistivity monitoring at Cerro Prieto

Dipole-dipole resistivity measurements for the combined purposes of reservoir delineation and resistivity monitoring were first made at Cerro Prieto in 1978 and have continued on an annual basis since then. Two 20 km long dipole-dipole lines with permanently emplaced electrodes at one kilometer spacings were established over the field area; one of these lines is remeasured annually. Resistivity measurements are taken using a 25 kW generator capable of up to 80A output and a microprocessor controlled signal averaging receiver; this high power-low noise system is capable of highly accurate measurements even at large transmitter-receiver separations. Standard error calculations for collected data indicate errors less than 5% for all points, but 95% confidence intervals show error limits about 2 to 4 times higher. Analysis of collected data indicate little change in the apparent resistivity of the upper 300 m over the field production zone and that in this section measurements are relatively insensitive to the annual rainfall cycle. Apparent resistivity increases were observed over the older producing zone at Cerro Prieto at depths of 1 km and greater. Large zones of decreasing apparent resistivity were observed flanking the zone of increases on both sides. The increase in apparent resistivity in the production region may be due to an increasing fraction of steam in the reservoir resulting from a production related decline in reservoir pressure. Alternatively the increases may be the result of fresh water influx from the Colorado River. The zone of declining resistivity flanking the area of increase may be due to the movement of saline waters into the reservoir region as a result of the pressure decline. Quantitative modeling of observed changes is impractical owing to the high uncertainty in estimating apparent resistivity changes and the nonuniqueness of models.