This interdisciplinary book encompasses the fields of rock mechanics, structural geology and petroleum engineering to address a wide range of geomechanical problems that arise during the exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs. It considers key practical issues such as prediction of pore pressure, estimation of hydrocarbon column heights and fault seal potential, determination of optimally stable well trajectories, casing set points and mud weights, changes in reservoir performance during depletion, and production-induced faulting and subsidence. The book establishes the basic principles involved before introducing practical measurement and experimental techniques to improve recovery and reduce exploitation costs. It illustrates their successful application through case studies taken from oil and gas fields around the world. This book is a practical reference for geoscientists and engineers in the petroleum and geothermal industries, and for research scientists interested in stress measurements and their application to problems of faulting and fluid flow in the crust.

A comprehensive overview of the key geologic, geomechanical and engineering principles that govern the development of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. Covering hydrocarbon-bearing formations, horizontal drilling, reservoir seismology and environmental impacts, this is an invaluable resource for geologists, geophysicists and reservoir engineers.

Applied Petroleum Geomechanics provides a bridge between theory and practice as a daily use reference that contains direct industry applications. Going beyond the basic fundamentals of rock properties, this guide covers critical field and lab tests, along with interpretations from actual drilling operations and worldwide case studies, including abnormal formation pressures from many major petroleum basins. Rounding out with borehole stability solutions and the geomechanics surrounding hydraulic fracturing and unconventional reservoirs, this comprehensive resource gives petroleum engineers a much-needed guide on how to tackle today's advanced oil and gas operations. - Presents methods in formation evaluation and the most recent advancements in the area, including tools, techniques and success stories - Bridges the gap between theory of rock mechanics and practical oil and gas applications - Helps readers understand pore pressure calculations and predictions that are critical to shale and hydraulic activity

This monograph is based on subsurface hydrodynamics and applied geomechanics and places them in a unifying framework. It focuses on the understanding of physical and mechanical properties of geomaterials by presenting mathematical models of deformation and fracture with related experiments.

Designing an efficient drilling program is a key step for the development of an oil and/or gas field. Variations in reservoir pressure, saturation and temperature, induced by reservoir production or CO2 injection, involve various coupled physical and chemical processes. Geomechanics, which consider all thermohydromechanical phenomena involved in rock behavior, play an important role in every operation involved in the exploitation of hydrocarbons, from drilling to production, and in CO2 geological storage operations as well. Pressure changes in the reservoir modify the in situ stresses and induce strains, not only within the reservoir itself, but also in the entire sedimentary column. In turn, these stress variations and associated strains modify the fluids flow in the reservoir and change the wellbore stability parameters. This book offers a large overview on applications of Geomechanics to petroleum industry. It presents the fundamentals of rock mechanics, describes the methods used to characterise rocks in the laboratory and the modelling of their mechanical behaviour ; it gives elements of numerical geomechanical modelling at the site scale. It also demonstrates the role of Geomechanics in the optimisation of drilling and production : it encompasses drillability, wellbore stability, sand production and hydraulic fracturing ; it provides the basic attainments to deal with the environmental aspects of heave or subsidence of the surface layers, CO2 sequestration and well abandonment ; and it shows how seismic monitoring and geomechanical modelling of reservoirs can help to optimise production or check cap rock integrity. This book will be of interest to all engineers involved in oil field development and petroleum engineering students, whether drillers or producers. It aims also at providing a large range of potential users with a simple approach of a broad field of knowledge.

Praise for Reservoir Geomechanics: --

Geomechanics investigates the origin, magnitude and deformational consequences of stresses in the crust. In recent years awareness of geomechanical processes has been heightened by societal debates on fracking, human-induced seismicity, natural geohazards and safety issues with respect to petroleum exploration drilling, carbon sequestration and radioactive waste disposal. This volume explores the common ground linking geomechanics with inter alia economic and petroleum geology, structural geology, petrophysics, seismology, geotechnics, reservoir engineering and production technology. Geomechanics is a rapidly developing field that brings together a broad range of subsurface professionals seeking to use their expertise to solve current challenges in applied and fundamental geoscience. A rich diversity of case studies herein showcase applications of geomechanics to hydrocarbon exploration and field development, natural and artificial geohazards, reservoir stimulation, contemporary tectonics and subsurface fluid flow. These papers provide a representative snapshot of the exciting state of geomechanics and establish it firmly as a flourishing subdiscipline of geology that merits broadest exposure across the academic and corporate geosciences.

This book is intended as a reference book for advanced graduate students and research engineers in shale gas development or rock mechanical engineering. Globally, there is widespread interest in exploiting shale gas resources to meet rising energy demands, maintain energy security and stability in supply and reduce dependence on higher carbon sources of energy, namely coal and oil. However, extracting shale gas is a resource intensive process and is dependent on the geological and geomechanical characteristics of the source rocks, making the development of certain formations uneconomic using current technologies. Therefore, evaluation of the physical and mechanical properties of shale, together with technological advancements, is critical in verifying the economic viability of such formation. Accurate geomechanical information about the rock and its variation through the shale is important since stresses along the wellbore can control fracture initiation and frac development. In addition, hydraulic fracturing has been widely employed to enhance the production of oil and gas from underground reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing is a complex operation in which the fluid is pumped at a high pressure into a selected section of the wellbore. The interaction between the hydraulic fractures and natural fractures is the key to fracturing effectiveness prediction and high gas development. The development and growth of a hydraulic fracture through the natural fracture systems of shale is probably more complex than can be described here, but may be somewhat predictable if the fracture system and the development of stresses can be explained. As a result, comprehensive shale geomechanical experiments, physical modeling experiment and numerical investigations should be conducted to reveal the fracturing mechanical behaviors of shale.

The book presents an integrated approach to studying the geomechanical processes occurring in oil and gas-bearing formations during their development. It discusses the choice of a model that takes into account the basic properties of rocks; experiments to find model parameters; numerical modeling; and direct physical modeling of deformation and filtration processes in reservoir and host rocks. Taking into account features of rock behavior, such as anisotropy of the mechanical properties of rocks during elastoplastic deformation; dependence of permeability on the total stress tensor; the contribution of the filtration flow to the formation stress state; and the influence of tangential as well as normal stresses on the transition to inelastic deformation, it demonstrates how the presented approach allows the practical problems of increasing the productivity of wells, oil recovery, and ensuring the stability of wellbores to be solved. The book is intended for specialists, including geoengineers working in the oil and gas sector, teachers, graduate students and students, as well as all those interested in scientific and technological developments to meet the enormous demand for raw materials and energy.

Since the beginning of the US shale gas revolution in 2005, the development of unconventional oil and gas resources has gathered tremendous pace around the world. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the key geologic, geophysical, and engineering principles that govern the development of unconventional reservoirs. The book begins with a detailed characterization of unconventional reservoir rocks: their composition and microstructure, mechanical properties, and the processes controlling fault slip and fluid flow. A discussion of geomechanical principles follows, including the state of stress, pore pressure, and the importance of fractures and faults. After reviewing the fundamentals of horizontal drilling, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing, and stimulation of slip on pre-existing faults, the key factors impacting hydrocarbon production are explored. The final chapters cover environmental impacts and how to mitigate hazards associated with induced seismicity. This text provides an essential overview for students, researchers, and industry professionals interested in unconventional reservoirs.