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ONLINE: Geomechanics for Well Engineers (GEO974)

  • 13-17 October 20255 daysONLINE, Course Fee: 3250 EUR + VAT

Description

This course teaches the principles of geomechanics and how these can be employed to reduce (well) risks of oil & gas projects, as well as CO2 storage projects. Subsurface characterisations requirements (in-situ stress and formation properties) are explained based on the geomechanical fundamentals, while the merits and issues of field data and lab experiments are discussed. The impact of well orientation, reservoir depletion and (subsequent) re-pressurisation, and fault slip are addressed to understand how (optimum) mud weight recommendations are made and how well trajectory planning can reduce borehole stability problems as well as the likelihood of mechanical well failure over the life-cycle of the project.

Course Structure: 5 modules of max. 4 hours each, delivered over 5 days
Each day will consist of 1 module which will be no more than 4 hours in length with ample time for delegates to break for refreshments.

Course Level: Foundation
Instructor: Peter van den Bogert

Designed for you, if you are...

  • A well engineer who wants to understand how mud weight recommendations are made and how well trajectory planning can reduce borehole stability problems as well as the likelihood of mechanical well failure in depleting reservoirs due to compaction and faults slip.
  • A geomechanicist, petrophysicist, geologist or reservoir engineer who wants to understand how to estimate the geomechanical properties in the subsurface and select field development scenarios that minimise well-related project costs (by minimising drilling issues and well failure risks)

How we build your confidence

  • Examples and case studies from different geological settings
  • Exercises to develop some hands-on skills
  • Quizzes to test knowledge transfer
  • Discussions (Q&A) to help deployment of the learnings

The benefits from attending

  • Participants will understand the concepts of stress & strain, tensile & shear failure, and linear elasticity and how that applies to wellbore conditions, covering the risks of borehole instability, fracturing, losses, and mechanical well failure, both under virgin, depleted and re-pressurised reservoir conditions.
  • Participants will be able to identify field and experimental data to constrain the in-situ stress condition and formations properties and estimate their uncertainties. Among others, participants will understand the difference between field integrity test and (extended) leak-off tests, construct and interpret pressure-depth plots, conduct Mohr’s circle analyses, and understand the impact of mud weight and well orientation on borehole (in)stability.
  • Furthermore, participants will understand how appropriate well trajectory planning can reduce the risk of well failure (unable to produce of re-enter) due to reservoir depletion and re-pressurisation (e.g., due to waterflooding or CO2 storage).

Topics

Risks & Initial Stress
  • Introduction
  • Geomechanical project risks
  • Workflow, stress in the earth, initial stress
  • Vertical principal stress
  • Pore pressure basic concepts
  • Over-pressure & mechanisms
  • Pressure in salt
  • Measuring & monitoring
  • Minimum & intermediate principal stress
  • Pressure-depth plot

Fundamentals
  • Effective and principal stress, Mohr’s circle
  • Linear elasticity, Young’s modulus & Passion’s ratio
  • Strain, irrecoverable deformations, non-linear behaviour
  • Tensile & shear failure, cohesion & friction angle
  • Rock mechanical experiments
  • Uniaxial deformation, Uni-axial compressibility

Bore Hole Stability
  • Stuck-pipe mechanisms & prevention
  • Stress distribution around the bore hole
  • The role of mud weight, examples
  • Polar plots: impact of dip angle and azimuth
  • Bore hole failure: instability, lost circulation
  • Oil-based vs. water-based muds
  • Over-pressure & in-fill drilling
  • BHS workflow, recommended mud weight

Field-Scale Modelling
  • Field scale geomechanics introduction
  • Formation properties from logs, correlation functions
  • Offset & other well data
  • Reservoir depletion, change of in-situ stress, stress-path coefficient
  • Well trajectory planning, in-fill drilling
  • Thermal aspects, thermo-elasticity
  • Reservoir re-pressurisation (e.g. CO2 injection, water disposal)

Well Failure, Compaction, Subsidence & Fault Reactivation
  • Reservoir compaction & subsidence
  • Well failure due to reservoir compaction
  • Well failure due to slip layers
  • Stress on a fault plane & fault reactivation
  • How to screen for geomechanical risks
  • Developing the work plan


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