Geomechanical Aspect of Seismicity Induced by Subsurface

Fluid Injection and Production S. Mehran Hosseini, Ph.D. Student

Fracture Tip Stress Field Fracture Tip Stress Trajectory

USC Induced Seismicity Consortium Meeting July 02, 2013

Outline

Application

Methodology:

Project Schedule and Milestones

References

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Coulomb Stress TransferAnalytical SolutionsNumerical SolutionsData and Software Requirement Along Deliverables

Applications

• Oil and Gas Production

• Hydraulic Fracturing• CO2 Sequestration

• Geothermal Reservoirs• Enhanced Oil Recovery• Waste Injection

Methodology

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Coulomb Stress Transfer

USC Induced Seismicity Consortium Meeting S. Mehran Hosseini, July 02, 2013

Coulomb stress transfer is an interaction criterion that promises a deeper understanding of earthquake occurrence, and a better description of probabilistic hazard.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDdHPDdPpYE&feature=player_embeddedCoulomb stress change can happen as result of pore pressure diffusion in a poroelastic medium (reservoir) as well as stresss change and displacement associated with hydraulic fracturing and faulting.

Why should we be concerned? USGS seismic hazard map speaks for itself.

USGS Seismic Hazard Map

Risk Quantification and Management Earthquakes have happened in the past and will happen in the future.

The main question is how much subsurface production and injection can increase or decrease the risk, If any.

In the case of increased risk what solutions can be followed to decrease the risk.

The results of the study will be included in the hazard mitigation tool.

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Similar Analytical Solutions: Fracture Network Characterization Based on Seismic Event Front

Failure in the intact rock

Failure along the planes of weakness

Event Front Fault or Fracture Orientation

ΔP m β

Hosseini and Aminzadeh [2013] Hosseini and Aminzadeh [2013]

Numerical Solution: Coulomb Stress Change Due to Subsurface Injection and Production

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USGS Coulomb Software: One can calculate static displacements, strains, and stresses caused by fault slip, magmatic intrusion or dike expansion. Problems such as how an earthquake promotes or inhibits failure on nearby faults, or how fault slips are germane to Coulomb.

Calculations are made in an elastic halfspace with uniform isotropic elastic properties following Okada [1992].

This software is used in several studies which are published in Nature and other distinguished journals.

Data and Software Requirement Along Deliverables

Triaxial test results

Geology data

Micorseismic data

Stress data

Image log

Sonic log

More specific data needs will be updated along the way

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Results will be conveyed through quarterly meeting presentations and reports.

The results upon client agreement will be included in S. Mehran Hosseini’s Ph.D. dissertation.

Results upon client agreement will be published in related journals and conference proceedings.

Required Data Required Software Deliverables

USGS Coulomb Software (Free)

ABAQUS (Dassault Systems)

Jewel Suite (Baker Hughes)

Mangrove (Schlumberger)

CMG

Project Schedule and Milestones

After Aminzadeh et al. [2013]; Yellow Areas shows my personal contribution plan

References

Aminzadeh, F., Jafarpour, B., Sammis, C., Ghanem, R., Strack, K., Karrenbach, M. 2012. Quantifying Seismic Hazard from Subsurface Fluid Injection and Production (SFIP) for Shale Gas and Oil Reservoirs. REPSEA RFP2012UN001.

Hosseini, S.M., Aminzadeh, F. 2013. A New Model for Geomechanical Seismicity Based Reservoir Characterization Including Reservoir Discontinuity Orientations. Paper SPE 166485 presented at the SPE Annual Technology conference and exhibition, New Orleans, LA, 30 September-2 October.

Okada, Y. 1992. Internal deformation due to shear and tensile faults in a half-space, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer., 82 (2), 1018-1040.

Richards-Dinger, K., Stein, R.S., and Toda, S. 2010, Decay of aftershock density with distance does not indicate triggering by dynamic stress, Nature, 467, 583-586, doi:10.1038/nature0940.

Thank You

Questions?

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