SPE Forum - Reservoir Geomechanics

1-6 June 2008
Colorado Springs, Colorado USA

The importance of geomechanics in reservoir performance analysis and prediction has been recognized for several decades. Conversely, its incorporation into our daily computations has been hampered due to several significant bottlenecks that involve data acquisition, interpretation, and software and hardware limitations. Historically, these bottlenecks have limited the application of geomechanics to a few (though important) near-wellbore problems such as wellbore stability, sand control, and hydraulic fracturing.

From the reservoir performance perspective, the application of geomechanics has been mostly limited to simplified representations of model hysteretic compaction (hence subsidence) and non-hysteretic varying rock compressibility. During the past decade there have been several serious attempts to integrate the geomechanical and flow models in a practical manner. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that with the improvements in hardware speed and capacity, the daily use of these integrated solutions will become a reality during the next five to ten years.

This SPE forum will focus on the future of geomechanics in reservoir performance analysis and predictive modeling. The topics will cover the problems associated with the data acquisition and interpretation, the application of geomechanics on naturally fractured reservoirs (including coal bed methane), shallow thermal applications, over-pressured reservoirs, certain gas storage reservoirs, unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, fluid injection in stress-sensitive reservoirs, and fault reactivation.

This SPE forum is recommended for practicing engineers, reservoir managers, academicians, research scientists, service providers, and software developers who focus on stress-sensitive reservoirs.

The following is a list of possible session topics:

Session 1: Basin/Prospect-Scale Data and Modeling
Session 2: Overburden and Reservoir Boundary Effects
Session 3: 4D Seismic and Geomechanics Interaction
Session 4: Data Acquisition and Interpretation
Session 5: Geomechanical Impact of Reservoir Processes on Reservoir Properties and Production
Session 6: Fractured Reservoirs and Unconventional Resources
Session 7: Impact of Temperature on Stress-Sensitive and Heavy Oil Reservoirs
Session 8: Value of Geomechanics in the Life Cycle of a Reservoir
Session 9: Injection GeoMechanics

Other possible session topics may include:

Transient Well Testing
Over-pressured Reservoirs
Critically Stressed Fractures and Fault Reactivation
Near Wellbore Issues: Sand Production
Hydraulic Fracture Design and Modeling