Uncertainty Evaluation of Wellbore Stability Using Comparative Rock Strength Criterions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rasool Khosravanian ◽  
Bernt Sigve Aadnøy
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Tensile Failure ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Uncertainty Evaluation ◽  
Fluid Loss ◽  
Real Problem ◽  
Wellbore Integrity ◽  
Drilling Operation ◽  
Geomechanical Analysis

Abstract The requirement of uncertainty analysis has shifted the transformation of sensitivity analysis from the deterministic area to the stochastic area.Geomechanical wellbore integrity problems during drilling operation can occur due to wellbore shear failure or tensile failure. To guarantee wellbore integrity, breakout and fracture geomechanical analysis is essential to estimate the Safe Mud Weight Window (SMWW). Wellbore stability problems causes many challenges in a drilling operation, such as pipe sticking, wellbore collapse, fluid loss and poor cement jobs. A drilling engineer must minimize the risk of these problems, however, there is a considerable uncertainty of different parameters such as geomechanical rock properties of drilled formation, and, data and parameters gathering are often incomplete. This uncertainty of main parameters have impact on the resulting SMWW.This paper perform an uncertainty evaluation of wellbore stability and its effect on the optimum interval of SMWW. The SMWW Uncertainty Evaluation of Wellbore Stability assessment for two failure criteria are compared, Mohr-Coulomb and Modified Lade criterion. We apply Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the uncertainty of the models and we do a sensitivity analysis and confidence level analysis. The paper will show the advantage of including uncertainty evaluation when determining the optimum SMWW window, as opposed to classical deterministic analysis. A case study is presented to draw a perfect understanding of the foundation of the MCS approach with practical and good results. It confirmed the capability of the proposed approach in solving such a strong-nonlinear, complex real problem.

scholarly journals 3D mechanical earth model for optimized wellbore stability, a case study from South of Iraq

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulaziz M. Abdulaziz ◽  
Hayder L. Abdulridha ◽  
Abdel Sattar A. Dahab ◽  
Shaban Alhussainy ◽  
Ahmed K. Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Friction Angle ◽  
Failure Criteria ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Earth Model ◽  
The North ◽  
Geomechanical Analysis ◽  
Mechanical Earth Model ◽  
South Of Iraq

AbstractWellbore instability issues represent the most critical problems in Iraq Southern fields. These problems, such as hole collapse, tight hole and stuck pipe result in tremendous increasing in the nonproductive time (NPT) and well costs. The present study introduced a calibrated three-dimensional mechanical earth model (3DMEM) for the X-field in the South of Iraq. This post-drill model can be used to conduct a comprehensive geomechanical analysis of the trouble zones from Sadi Formation to Zubair Reservoir. A one-dimensional mechanical earth model (1DMEM) was constructed using Well logs, mechanical core tests, pressure measurements, drilling reports, and mud logs. Mohr–Coulomb and Mogi–Coulomb failure criteria determined the possibility of wellbore deformation. Then, the 1DMEMs were interpolated to construct a three-dimensional mechanical earth model (3DMEM). 3DMEM indicated relative heterogeneity in rock properties and field stresses between the southern and northern of the studied field. The shale intervals revealed prone to failure more than others, with a relatively high Poisson's ratio, low Young's modulus, low friction angle, and low rock strength. The best orientation for directional Wells is 140° clockwise from the North. Vertical and slightly inclined Wells (less than 40°) are more stable than the high angle directional Wells. This integration between 1 and 3DMEM enables anticipating the subsurface conditions for the proactive design and drilling of new Wells. However, the geomechanics investigations still have uncertainty due to unavailability of enough calibrating data, especially which related with maximum horizontal stresses magnitudes.

Managing Wellbore Stability Window and Well Integrity by Adjusting the Tight Margin to Successfully Drill through Naturally Fractured Zone Onshore Niger Delta

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bassey Akong ◽  
Samuel Orimoloye ◽  
Friday Otutu ◽  
Akinwale Ojo ◽  
Goodluck Mfonnom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Niger Delta ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Failure Behavior ◽  
Natural Fractures ◽  
Gas Well ◽  
Well Integrity ◽  
Trajectory Formation ◽  
Naturally Fractured ◽  
Drilling Operations

Abstract The analysis of wellbore stability in gas wells is vital for effective drilling operations, especially in Brown fields and for modern drilling technologies. Tensile failure mode of Wellbore stability problems usually occur when drilling through hydrocarbon formations such as shale, unconsolidated sandstone, sand units, natural fractured formations and HPHT formations with narrow safety mud window. These problems can significantly affect drilling time, costs and the whole drilling operations. In the case of the candidate onshore gas well Niger Delta, there was severe lost circulation events and gas cut mud while drilling. However, there was need for a consistent adjustment of the tight drilling margin, flow, and mud rheology to allow for effective filter-cake formation around the penetrated natural fractures and traversed depleted intervals without jeopardizing the well integrity. Several assumptions were validly made for formations with voids or natural fractures, because the presence of these geological features influenced rock anisotropic properties, wellbore stress concentration and failure behavior with end point of partial – to-total loss circulation events. This was a complicated phenomenon, because the pre-drilled stress distribution simulation around the candidate wellbore was investigated to be affected by factors such as rock properties, far-field principal stresses, wellbore trajectory, formation pore pressure, reservoir and drilling fluids properties and time without much interest on traversing through voids or naturally fractured layers. This study reviews the major causes of the severe losses encountered, the adopted fractured permeability mid-line mudweight window mitigation process, stress caging strategies and other operational decisions adopted to further salvage and drill through the naturally fractured and depleted intervals, hence regaining the well integrity by reducing NPT and promoting well-early-time-production for the onshore gas well Niger Delta.

Wellbore Geomechanics of Extended Drilling Margin and Engineered Lost-Circulation Solutions

SPE Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (04) ◽  
pp. 1178-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amin Mehrabian ◽  
Younane Abousleiman
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Stability Analysis ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Tensile Failure ◽  
Mechanical Interaction ◽  
Lost Circulation ◽  
Drilling Operations ◽  
Secondary Fractures ◽  
Lost Circulation Materials

Summary Wellbore tensile failure is a known consequence of drilling with excessive mud weight, which can cause costly events of lost circulation. Despite the successful use of lost-circulation materials (LCMs) in treating lost-circulation events of the drilling operations, extensions of wellbore-stability models to the case of a fractured and LCM-treated wellbore have not been published. This paper presents an extension of the conventional wellbore-stability analysis to such circumstances. The proposed wellbore geomechanics solution revisits the criteria for breakdown of a fractured wellbore to identify an extended margin for the equivalent circulation density (ECD) of drilling. An analytical approach is taken to solve for the related multiscale and nonlinear problem of the three-way mechanical interaction between the wellbore, fracture wings, and LCM aggregate. The criteria for unstable propagation of existing near-wellbore fractures, together with those for initiating secondary fractures from the wellbore, are obtained. Results suggest that, in many circumstances, the occurrence of both incidents can be prevented, if the LCM blend is properly engineered to recover certain depositional and mechanical properties at downhole conditions. Under such optimal design conditions, the maximum ECD to which the breakdown limit of a permeable formation could be enhanced is predicted.

Application of Computational Intelligence in Generating Synthetic Reservoir Rock Mechanical Parameters for Building Geo-Models.

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Akubue ◽  
A.. Dosunmu ◽  
F. T. Beka
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Reservoir Rock ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Earth Model ◽  
Sonic Log

Abstract Oil field Operations such as wellbore stability Management and variety of other activities in the upstream petroleum industry require geo-mechanical models for their analysis. Sometimes, the required subsurface measurements used to estimate rock parameters for building such models are unavailable. On this premise, past studies have offered variety of methods and investigative techniques such as empirical correlations, statistical analysis and numerical models to generate these data from available information. However, the complexity of the relationships that exists between the natural occurring variables make the aforementioned techniques limited. This work involves the application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to generating rock properties. A three-layer back-propagation neural network model was applied predicting pseudo-sonic data using conventional wireline log data as input. Four well data from a Niger-Delta field were used in this study, one for training, one for validating and the two others for generating and testing results. The network was trained with different sets of initial random weights and biases using various learning algorithms. Root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (CC) were used as key performance indicators. This Neural-Network-Generated-Sonic-log was compared with those generated with existing correlations and statistical analysis. The results showed that the most influential input vectors with various configurations for predicting sonic log were Depth-Resistivity-Gamma ray-Density (with correlating coefficient between 0.7 and 0.9). The generated sonic was subsequently used to compute for other elastic properties needed to build mechanical earth model for evaluating the strength properties of drilled formations, hence optimise drilling performance. The models are useful in Minimizing well cost, as well as reducing Non Productive Time (NPT) caused by wellbore instability. This technique is particularly useful for mature fields, especially in situations where obtaining this well logs are usually not practicable.

Wellbore Integrity: An Integrated Experimental and Numerical Study to Investigate Pore Pressure Variation during Cement Hardening under Downhole Conditions

SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Weicheng Zhang ◽  
Andreas Eckert ◽  
Steven Hilgedick ◽  
Harvey Goodman ◽  
Meng Meng
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Numerical Study ◽  
Pressure Variation ◽  
The State ◽  
Numerical Results ◽  
Von Mises Stress ◽  
Fluid Loss ◽  
Wellbore Integrity ◽  
State Of Stress ◽  
Pressure Decrease

Summary Understanding the cement hardening process and determining the development of the state of stress in the cement under specific downhole conditions are challenging but fundamental requirements to perform an accurate prediction of wellbore integrity. As an essential component of the state of stress, the temporal variation of cement pore pressure is a critical factor that affects the occurrence of cement failure. In this study, we present a novel laboratory setup to measure the cement pore pressure variation during hardening under representative downhole conditions, including the pressure, temperature, and water exchange between the cement and formation. The pore pressure measurements are further incorporated with a staged finite element analysis (FEA) approach to investigate the state of stress development during cement hardening and to evaluate cement failure under different operations and after different wait-on-cement (WOC) periods. The laboratory measurements show that the external water supply from the formation significantly impedes the pore pressure drop in the cement. The numerical results indicate that the accelerated pore pressure decrease obtained without considering downhole conditions elevates the contact pressure at the cement-formation interfaces significantly and moderately increases the von Mises stress in the cement. The numerical results further predict that the accelerated pore pressure decrease leads to an overestimation of shear failure during pressure testing and steamflooding operations but an underestimation of debonding failure during severe fluid loss and injection-related cooling processes. Based on the results of the integrated laboratory and numerical approach, qualitative and quantitative suggestions are provided for field operations to inhibit wellbore integrity risk during the wellbore life cycle.

Geomechanical Model as the Key Step to Proppant Fracturing Success in Shallow Carbonate Reservoir of Bahrain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed AlJanahi ◽  
Feras Altawash ◽  
Hassan AlMannai ◽  
Sayed Abdelredy ◽  
Hamed Al Ghadhban ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Resolution ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Carbonate Reservoir ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Stress Profile ◽  
Geomechanical Model ◽  
Breakdown Pressure ◽  
Matrix Permeability ◽  
Geomechanical Analysis ◽  
Horizontal Strain

Abstract Geomechanics play an important role in stimulation design, especially in complex tight reservoirs with very low matrix permeability. Robust modelling of stresses along with rock mechanical properties helps to identify the stress barriers which are crucial for optimum stimulation design and proppant allocation. Complex modeling and calibration workflow showcased the value of geomechanical analysis in a large stimulation project in the Ostracod-Magwa reservoir, a complicated shallow carbonate reservoir in the Bahrain Field. For the initial model, regional average rock properties and minimum stress values from earlier frack campaigns were considered. During campaign progression, advanced cross dipole sonic measurements of the new wells were incorporated in the geomechanical modeling which provided rock properties and stresses with improved confidence. The outputs from wireline-conveyed microfrac tests and the fracturing treatments were also considered for calibration of the minimum horizontal stress and breakdown pressure. The porepressure variability was established with the measured formation pressure data. The geomechanically derived horizontal stresses were used as input for the frack-design. Independent fracture geometry measurements were run to validate the model. The poro-elastic horizontal strain approach was taken to model the horizontal stresses, which shows better variability of the stress profile depending on the elastic rock properties. The study shows variable depletion in porepressure across the field as well as within different reservoir layers. The Ostracod reservoir is more depleted than Magwa, with porepressure values lower than hydrostatic (∼7 ppg). The B3 shale layer in between the Magwa and Ostracod reservoirs is a competent barrier with 1200-1500psi closure pressure. The closure pressures in the Ostracod and Magwa vary from 1000-1500psi and 1100-1600psi, respectively. There is a gradual increasing trend observed in closure pressure in Magwa with depth, but no such trend is apparent in the shallower Ostracod formation. High resolution stress profiles help to identify the barriers within each reservoir to place horizontal wells and quantify the magnitude of hydraulic fracture stress barriers along horizontal wells. The geomechanical model served as a key part of the fracturing optimization workflow, resulting in more than double increase in wells productivity compared to previous stimulation campaigns. The study also helped to optimize the selection of the clusters depth of hydraulic fracturing stages in horizontal wells. The poroelastic horizontal strain approach to constrain horizontal stresses from cross dipole sonic provides better variability in the stress profile to ultimately yield high resolution. This model, calibrated with actual frac data, is crucial for stimulation design in complex reservoirs with very low matrix permeability. The geomechanical model serves as one of the few for shallow carbonates rock in the Middle East region and can be of significant importance to many other shallow projects in the region.

Risk Due to Wellbore Instability

2014 ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Nediljka Gaurina-Medjimurec ◽  
Borivoje Pasic
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Early Recognition ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Effective Solution ◽  
Wellbore Instability ◽  
Drilling Operation ◽  
General Overview ◽  
Well Design ◽  
Exploration And Production

Exploration and production as one of the most important parts of the petroleum industry encounters different problems, usually resulting in nonproductive time and additional expenses. The most common and most expensive of them are related to wellbore instability and associated problems. Wellbore instability problems are usually related to drilling operation, but they can also appear during completion, workover, or the production stage of a certain well. The traditional solution for wellbore instability problems is composed from the early recognition of specific wellbore instability problems, the main cause identification and swift response. For more effective solution it is necessary to incorporate wellbore stability and risk assessment in the early phase of well design. This chapter gives one general overview of wellbore instability problems and their causes as well as an overview of actual approaches and methods in wellbore stability and risk assessment.

Sensitivity analysis of geomechanical parameters affecting a wellbore stability

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 768-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abolfazl Abdollahipour ◽  
Hamid Soltanian ◽  
Yaser Pourmazaheri ◽  
Ezzatollah Kazemzadeh ◽  
Mohammad Fatehi-Marji
Keyword(s):  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Geomechanical Parameters
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