Overview
A complete understanding of the stresses and pressures acting in the earth is necessary to address a wide range of challenges and help mitigate risks faced throughout the lifecycle of hydrocarbon reservoirs. The geomechanical model is a representation of these stresses and pressures and their effects on the rock. Most of the geomechanical products and their related services require the construction of a geomechanical model that consists of the three principal stresses and their orientations, the pore pressure and rock mechanical properties. The geomechanical model is potentially useful throughout the entire life of a field.
During the early exploration phase as well as during development drilling, pore pressure prediction is an important requirement, along with utilization of the geomechanical model to predict wellbore instability and for fault risk analysis (fault seal and HC column height in the exploration stage to fault slip analysis in the development and production stage). In fractured reservoirs, or rocks with losses during drilling, modeling fracture permeability becomes important. Other key predictions from the geomechanical model during early stages of the field life that can impact development decisions are determining whether the reservoir is prone to sand production, compaction, or casing shear.
For a total integrated approach to modeling the reservoir, the geomechanical model can be coupled to a reservoir simulation model, thereby providing valuable input for production optimization, reservoir monitoring and management. Other significant uses of the geomechanical model, if applicable, are to optimize fracture stimulation and ultimately to improve well productivity and increase recovery factor.
