Oil and Gas
Oil and Gas | Reservoir Development
This course will firstly introduce geomechanics concepts and processes to provide a level playing field including a description of how to measure in-situ stresses and rock mechanic properties. The key focus of the course will then be on how this geomechanics knowledge can be applied to improve the integrated understanding and management of reservoirs. Most emphasis will be given to the role of geomechanics in reservoir modelling and production/injection operations and how these processes relate to field exploration, appraisal and development. A brief overview is provided on geomechanics for wells and desigining completions and stimulations.
Schedule
Duration and Training Method
A three-day course with lectures, worked examples, exercises and discussion.
Course Overview
Learning Outcomes
Participants will learn to:
- Build an understanding of geomechanical concepts and relationships.
- Evaluate methods of measuring stress states in the subsurface.
- Appraise which geomechanical issues can affect reservoir behaviour.
- Analyse changes in rock properties from burial, uplift, pore pressure and deformation.
- Integrate geological, geophysical and engineering data types as part of a system of geomechanical processes.
- Charcterise different faults and fractures and their relationship to stress states.
- Assess a range of 3D reservoir geomechanical models and how they can be used in evaluating geomechanical influence on reservoir behaviour.
- Integrate geomechanical influences into reservoir management workflows and processes.
Course Content
Reservoir geomechanics (or rock mechanics) can mean many things to many people and these different perceptions can lead to gaps in knowledge and misunderstanding between different disciplines. Accurate geomechanical models are being proven to have an impact throughout the value chain incluidng exploration, injection and in EOR processes. The course will focus on using the key principles to imporove reservoir management and reservoir modelling.
Theory
• Stress-Strain relationships
• Material Properties
• Mohr circles
• Intact rock failure vs discontinuity reactivation
• Structural geology – natural geomechanics
• Elasticity theory
• Rock physics (acoustic wave propagation)
• Wellbore stress system
Measurement
• Stress tensor
• Pore pressure
• Elastic moduli (from well data and seismic)
• Rock strength (compressive and tensile)
• Friction angle
• Biot factor
Drilling and Productivity
• Wellbore stresses and wellbore stability models (e.g. Mohr Coulomb, Modified Lade)
• Wellbore design examples (anisotropic failure, open natural fractures)
• Sand production prediction (empirical and numerical)
• Introduction to hydraulic fracture design (2D and pseudo 3D models, proppant schedules)
Reservoir Performance
• 3D reservoir geomechanical model construction (well data, seismic inversion data)
• 3D Wellbore stability (trajectory screening & optimization)
• Production effects (compaction, subsidence, fault reactivation, poroelasticity)
• Injection effects and trap integrity (caprock tensile failure, fault reactivation, poroelasticity)
• Naturally fractured reservoirs (fracture compressibility, permeability changes)
Who Should Attend and Prerequisites
This course is designed for geophysicists, geologists, petrophysicists petroleum engineers, reservoir engineers, drilling engineers and production engineers who require an understanding of geomechanical processes to optimise their subsurface analysis.
Instructors
Tim Wynn
Background
Tim is the Principal Geologist and Geomechanics Specialist at TRACS International. He has over 29 years of experience in in geological and geomechanical reservoir characterisation and modelling, project management, asset evaluations (CPRs, Audits), and training aimed at supporting decision making in energy companies.
Upon completion of his PhD in 1994, Tim worked as Structural Geologist with GeoScience Limited for 6 years, before working as Geoscientist for ICE Energy Ltd, which was later acquired by TRACS International. Tim has worked for TRACS since 2001, progressing from Reservoir Geologist to his current role.
Tim has considerable experience of characterising and modelling clastic, carbonate, and basement reservoirs in the North Sea, Middle East, Europe, Russia, South America, Africa, and SE Asia. He has a particular interest in characterising and modelling fractured reservoirs and in the application of geomechanics to wellbore stability, reservoir stimulation and reservoir management. He has applied these skills to hydrocarbon, Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) and geothermal projects and has published technical papers on many of these topics, Tim is also a Technical Paper Reviewer for the Geological Society, London, SPE, and EAGE and an Editorial Board member of Petroleum Geoscience.
Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD Imperial College, London - Structural Geology
BSc Portsmouth Polytechnic – Geology
CGeol- Chartered Geologist
Fellow of the Geological Society, London; Technical Paper Reviewer, Petroleum Geoscience Editorial Board Member
Member of the PESGB
Member of the SPE; Technical Paper Reviewer
Member of the EAGE; Technical Paper Reviewer
Courses Taught
N445: The Subsurface Applications of Geomechanics
N548: Reservoir Modelling for Storage
N923: Modelling of Reservoir Structure and Fractures (Somerset, UK)