Since the beginning of the US shale gas revolution in 2005, the development of unconventional oil and gas resources has gathered tremendous pace around the world. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the key geologic, geophysical, and engineering principles that govern the development of unconventional reservoirs. The book begins with a detailed characterization of unconventional reservoir rocks: their composition and microstructure, mechanical properties, and the processes controlling fault slip and fluid flow. A discussion of geomechanical principles follows, including the state of stress, pore pressure, and the importance of fractures and faults. After reviewing the fundamentals of horizontal drilling, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing, and stimulation of slip on pre-existing faults, the key factors impacting hydrocarbon production are explored. The final chapters cover environmental impacts and how to mitigate hazards associated with induced seismicity. This text provides
This interdisciplinary book encompasses the fields of rock mechanics, structural geology and petroleum engineering to address a wide range of geomechanical problems that arise during the exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs. It considers key practical issues such as prediction of pore pressure, estimation of hydrocarbon column heights and fault seal potential, determination of optimally stable well trajectories, casing set points and mud weights, changes in reservoir performance during depletion, and production-induced faulting and subsidence. The book establishes the basic principles involved before introducing practical measurement and experimental techniques to improve recovery and reduce exploitation costs. It illustrates their successful application through case studies taken from oil and gas fields around the world. This book is a practical reference for geoscientists and engineers in the petroleum and geothermal industries, and for research scientists interested in stress meas
This volume provides a review and synthesizes the accomplishments of the past decade of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program. More importantly, it defines opportunities for scient
