GEOMECHANICAL RESERVOIR CHARACTERIAZATION AND APPLICATIONS

Abstract

The Mechanical Earth Model (MEM) is gaining attention in the oil and gas industry recently since utilizing horizontal well and multistage fracturing technologies requires understanding of the reservoir geomechanical properties. This thesis constructs a 3D Mechanical Earth Model (MEM) for a basin in Oklahoma. 1D MEMs that describe the rock properties, pore pressure and stress states for each well are first constructed. A 3D MEM is then generated incorporating the geological conditions through stratigraphy modeling, structural framework construction, property modeling as well as fracture modeling. A 3D sector model is then cut out to perform case studies. Wellbore breakout analysis is conducted by coupling the sector MEM with a finite element model to identify the breakouts and drilling-induced cracks and their positions. The results are analyzed and are calibrated by comparing the borehole image logs and the in-situ stresses as inputs from the 3D MEM so that the 3D MEM can be used for further calculations. Another case study is to model the hydraulic fracturing by incorporating the sector MEM into StimPlan, a hydraulic fracturing modeling software. The impacts of injection rate and volume on fracture shapes are studied.