Where, when and how a field-scale 4D geomechanical model should be built
Ahmadreza YounessiLevel 14, 216 St Georges Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia. Email: AhmadReza.YounessiSinaki@Bakerhughes.com
The APPEA Journal 57(2) 814-817 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ16211
Accepted: 23 March 2017 Published: 29 May 2017
Abstract
Analytical approaches have been successfully used for decades to analyse different geomechanical related problems in the oil and gas industry. These approaches are still applicable for most problems. However, they may not be suitable for complex environments that the industry is increasingly facing nowadays. The challenges to develop complex fields require the industry to have a better understanding and prediction of the behaviour of reservoir rocks and their overburden formations during field production. This can be partially achieved by conducting a more comprehensive analysis by means of numerical methods in a wider scale of space and time. We refer to this as 4D geomechanical modelling.
The concept of 4D geomechanical modelling is relatively new in the industry, and there is limited knowledge regarding the applications and advantages of this type of modelling within disciplines other than geomechanics. It is essential to understand in which type of reservoirs and at what stage of development this type of modelling should be considered. Here in this manuscript, after discussing these considerations, the techniques and procedures to build and interpret a 4D geomechanical model are discussed.
Keywords: 3D modelling, 4D modelling, dynamic modelling, geomechanics, numerical modelling.
Ahmadreza Younessi began his career as a geomechanics engineer at Schlumberger in 2006, after completing his Master of Science in Rock Mechanics Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran. He was involved with several consulting projects in Iran, India and Malaysia until 2009. He was also trained as a wireline field engineer during his time at Schlumberger. He started his PhD at Curtin University in 2009, focusing on sand production mechanism under true-triaxial stress conditions, and graduated in 2012. During his PhD he was involved with several consultant geomechanics projects in Australia. Ahmadreza joined Baker Hughes’ geomechanics team in 2012. Since then he has been involved in leading numerous high-profile geomechanics projects in the Asia-Pacific region. |
References
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