Development of 1D-Synthetic Geomechanical Well Logs for Applications Related to Reservoir Geomechanics in Buzurgan Oil Field

Knowledge of the distribution of the rock mechanical properties along the depth of the wells is an important task for many applications related to reservoir geomechanics. Such these applications are wellbore stability analysis, hydraulic fracturing, reservoir compaction and subsidence, sand production, and fault reactivation. A major challenge with determining the rock mechanical properties is that they are not directly measured at the wellbore. They can be only sampled at well location using rock testing. Furthermore, the core analysis provides discrete data measurements for specific depth as well as it is often available only for a few wells in a field of interest. This study presents a methodology to generate synthetic-geomechanical well logs for the production section of the Buzurgan oil field, located in the south of Iraq, using an artificial neural network. An issue with the area of study is that shear wave velocities and pore pressure measurements in some wells are missing or incomplete possibly for cost and time-saving purposes. The unavailability of these data can potentially create inaccuracies in reservoir characterization n and production management. To overcome these challenges, this study presents two developed models for estimating the shear wave velocity and pore pressure using ANN techniques. The input parameters are conventional well logs including compressional wave, bulk density, and gamma-ray. Also, this study presents a construction of 1-D mechanical earth model for the production section of Buzurgan oil field which can be used for optimizing the selected mud weights with less wellbore problems (less nonproductive time. The results showed that artificial neural network is a powerful tool in determining the shear wave velocity and formation pore pressure using conventional well logs. The constructed 1D MEM revealed a high matching between the predicted wellbore instabilities and the actual wellbore failures that were observed by the caliper log. The majority of borehole enlargements can be attributed to the formation shear failures due to an inadequate selection of mud weights while drilling. Hence, this study presents optimum mud weights (1.3 to 1.35 g/cc) that can be used to drill new wells in the Buzurgan oil field with less expected drilling problems.

Industry First Subsea Reentry Multilateral Wells: Case Study

To rapidly increase production from the Goliat Field without adding costly subsea equipment and infrastructure or mobilizing a high-end subsea construction vessel, an operator transformed two single-bore subsea wells into multilateral producers with independently controlled branches. A multidisciplinary team was assigned to perform a feasibility study for the introduction of multilateral wells. Work started with a reservoir geomechanics/wellbore stability review, based on which well construction/completion basis of design was made. The design and operations sequence were analyzed by a well engineering team. As a result, the main risks, uncertainties, and assumptions were clarified. Two candidate wells were identified, and then a multidisciplinary team was assigned to manage the project, finalize design, initiate procurement, and write procedures. Workshop preparation was closely monitored and reported on a weekly basis. The onshore team closely followed up and supported operational execution. The new laterals were added to the existing wells, and multilateral junctions were installed and tested. An intelligent completion was installed, and independent branch production started. In addition, the estimated reduction in generation of CO2 is estimated to be between 10 to 20 thousand metric tons per well as compared with drilling two new subsea wells and installing the associated infrastructure. The technology enables an exploration and production (E&P) company to introduce subsea reentry multilateral technology to increase production while minimizing costs. The process includes well candidate identification, planning, and execution. This practical example can be used for future reference by drilling and production-focused petroleum industry professionals to better understand the benefits and limitations of existing technologies.

Design of Horizontal Wellbore in Dadas Shales of Turkey by Considering Wellbore Stability and Reservoir Geomechanics

Currently, many horizontal wells are being drilled in Dadas shales of Turkey. Dadas shales have both oil (mostly) and gas potentials. Thus, hydraulic fracturing operations are being held to mobilize hydrocarbons. Up to 1000 m length horizontal wells are drilled for this purpose. However, there is not any study analyzing wellbore stability and reservoir geomechanics in the conditions of Dadas shales. In this study, the directions of horizontal wells, wellbore stability and reservoir geomechanics of Dadas shales were designed by using well log data. In this study, the python code developed by using Kirsch equations was developed. With this python code, it is possible to estimate unconfined compressive strength in along wellbore at different deviations. By analyzing caliper log, density and porosity logs of Dadas shales, vertical stress of Dadas shales was estimated and stress polygon for these shale was prepared in this study. Then, optimum direction of horizontal well was suggested to avoid any wellbore stability problems. According to the results of this study, high stresses are seen in horizontal directions. In this study, it was found that the maximum horizontal stress in almost the direction of North-South. The results of this study revealed that direction of maximum horizontal stress and horizontal well direction fluid affect the wellbore stability significantly. Thus, in this study, better horizontal well design was made for Dadas shales. Currently, Dadas shales are popular in Turkey because of its oil and gas potential so horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing operations are being held. However, in literature, there is no study about horizontal wellbore designs for Dadas shales. This study will be novel and provide information about the horizontal drilling design of Dadas shales.

The Influence of Development Target Depletion on Stress Evolution and Infill Drilling of Upside Target in the Permian Basin

Summary The extensive depletion of the development target triggers the demand for infill drilling in the upside target of multilayer unconventional reservoirs. However, such an infill scheme in the field practice still heavily relies on empirical knowledge or pressure responses, and the geomechanics consequences have not been fully understood. Backed by the data set from the Permian Basin, in this work we present a novel integrated reservoir-geomechanics-fracture model to simulate the spatiotemporal stress evolution and locate the optimal development strategy in the upside target of the Bone Spring Formation. An embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) is deployed in our fluid-flow simulation to characterize complex fractures, and the stress-dependent matrix permeability and fracture conductivity are included through the compaction/dilation option. After calibrating reservoir and fracture properties by history matching of an actual well in the development target (i.e., third Bone Spring), we run the finite element method (FEM)-based geomechanics simulation to model the 3D stress state evolution. Then a displacement discontinuity method (DDM) hydraulic fracture model is applied to simulate the multicluster fracture propagation under an updated heterogeneous stress field in the upside target (i.e., second Bone Spring). Numerical results indicate that stress field redistribution associated with parent-well production indeed vertically propagates to the upside target. The extent of stress reorientation at the infill location mainly depends on the parent-child horizontal offset, whereas the stress depletion is under the combined impact of horizontal offset, vertical offset, and infill time. A smaller parent-child horizontal offset aggravates the overlap of the stimulated reservoir volume (SRV), resulting in more substantial interwell interference and less desirable oil and gas production. The same trend is observed by varying the parent-child vertical offset. Moreover, the efficacy of an infill operation at an earlier time is less affected by parent-well depletion because of the less-disturbed stress state. The candidate infill-well locations at various infill timings are suggested based on the parent-well and child-well production cosimulation. Being able to incorporate both pressure and stress responses, the reservoir-geomechanics-fracture model delivers a more comprehensive understanding and a more integral solution of infill-well design in multilayer unconventional reservoirs. The conclusions provide practical guidelines for the subsequent development in the Permian Basin.

Integrated Reservoir Geomechanics Approach for Reservoir Management

An integrated 3D dynamic reservoir geomechanics model can provide a diverse 3D view of depletion-injection-induced field stress changes and the resulting deformation of both reservoir and overburden formations at various field locations. It enables the assessment of reservoir compaction, platform site subsidence, fault reactivation and caprock integrity associated with multiple production and injection reservoirs of the field. We demonstrated this integrated approach for a study field located in the South China Sea, Malaysia, which is planned for water injection for pressure support and EOR scheme thereafter. Reservoir fluid containment during water injection is an important concern because of the intensive geologic faulting and fracturing in the collapsed anticlinal structure, with some faults extending from the reservoirs to shallow depths at or close to the seafloor. Over 30 simulations were done, and most input parameters were systematically varied to gain insight in their effect on result that was of most interest to us: The tendency of fault slip as a function of our operation-induced variations in pore pressure in the reservoir rocks bounding the fault, both during depletion and injection. The results showed that depletion actually reduces the risk of fault slip and of the overburden, while injection-induced increase in pore fluid pressure will lead to a significant increase in the risk of fault slip. Overall, while depletion appears to stabilize the fault and injection appears to destabilize the fault, no fault slip is predicted to occur, not even after a 900psi increase in pore pressure above the pore pressure levels at maximum depletion. We present the model results to demonstrate why depletion and injection have such different effects on fault slip tendency. The interpretation of these geomechanical model results have potential applications beyond the study field, especially for fields with a similar geology and development plan. This is a novel application of 3D dynamic reservoir geomechanics model that cannot be obtained from 1D analytical models alone.