Applied Petroleum Geomechanics
Course overview
This five (5) day course provides an intermediate level of understanding of the geomechanical factors that affect wellbore instability, sand production and hydraulic fracture design. The course is structured such that upon completion, participants will have understood the value that geomechanics can bring to drilling, completion and production operations and will be able to leverage this value wherever it applies. The course emphasis will be on integrating the topics presented through a combination of lectures, case-studies and hands-on exercises. A special focus will be on how geomechanics knowledge is extracted from routinely acquired well data and how it is applied in the prediction and prevention of formation instability.
Throughout the course, all concepts are illustrated with field examples and core data.
Course highlights
The course is essentially non-mathematical and makes wide use of diagrams, pictures and exercises to illustrate the essential concepts of geomechanics:
- Essential Rock Mechanics Principles
- Wellbore Stability Analysis
- Lost Circulation and Wellbore Strengthening applications
- Sand Production Management
- Input to Hydraulic Fracture design
- Salt instability
Learning objectives
Apply the basic concepts of geomechanics to identify, predict and mitigate against formation instability during drilling, completion and production.
Course outline
DAY 4
GEOMECHANICAL ASPECTS OF LOST CIRCULATION
- Lost circulation mechanisms
- Understanding wellbore strengthening techniques
Exercise: Solve a lost circulation problem using real-life log and drilling data
SAND PRODUCTION, PREDICTION AND MANAGEMENT
- Sand production mechanisms
- Critical drawdown calculation
- Sand avoidance versus sand exclusion
- Sand avoidance techniques
- Influence of depletion and water cut
Exercise: Choosing a completion strategy to manage sand production
DAY 5
GEOMECHANICAL ASPECTS OF HYDRAULIC FRACTURE STIMULATION
- Stress profiling
- Rock property estimation
- Fracture geometry and orientation
Exercise: Stress barriers for fracture confinement
SALT INSTABILITY
- Geomechanics of salt formations – plastic deformation
- Stress modelling around salt diapirs
- Drilling hazards
DAY 1
INTRODUCTION TO APPLIED PETROLEUM GEOMECHANICS
ESSENTIAL ROCK MECHANICS AND EARTH STRESSES
- Review of fundamental mechanics
- Normal and shear stresses
- Elasticity, yield and plasticity
Exercise: Estimating rock properties from triaxial core test data
MECHANICAL CORE TESTING
- Elasticity, yield and plasticity
Exercise: Using Mohr’s Circle to understand formation failure
PORE PRESSURE
- Sources of overpressure
- Pre-drill pore pressure prediction from seismic data
- Pore pressure prediction techniques from logs and drilling data
Exercise: Prediction of overpressure from sonic data
DAY 2
CONSTRUCTION AND UTILISATION OF A ROCK MECHANICAL EARTH MODEL
- Estimating in-situ earth stresses and pore pressure
DATA ACQUISITION RECOMMENDATIONS
- Extended Leak-off Tests
WELLBORE INSTABILITY
- Rock mechanics versus drilling operations
- State of stress around a wellbore
- Estimating stability limits – choosing a mud weight
- Influence of well trajectory
- Unconventional failures
Exercise: Stability limits for vertical and horizontal wells
PLANNING FOR WELLBORE STABILITY
- Data gathering
- Mud weight window calculations
- Operational identification and management
DAY 3
PLANNING FOR WELLBORE STABILITY
Case-study practical: Choosing an optimal wellbore trajectory
UNCONVENTIONALS & RESERVOIR GEOMECHANICS
- Understanding rock property anisotropy in shales
- Accounting for the effects of stress changes due to depletion and injection
- Temperature effects
Exercise: Estimating rock properties from triaxial core test data
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