DL Series: Insightful Geomechanical Measurements for Converting Existing Hydrocarbon Reservoirs to Carbon Storage

About the lecture

As the industry transitions from traditional hydrocarbon exploration and development into new energy and capture and sequestration (CCS), formation integrity becomes more integral for asset longevity. For instance, many depleted fields are being assessed for CCS, but these depleted fields rarely have enough information within the overburden to assess geological seals or caprock integrity.

Geomechanical modeling with calibration is required for determining the maximum injection for containment for the carbon sequestration. Often the critical data were not gathered during the initial appraisal phases of these existing fields to perform the assessment with certainty. Three existing technologies can provide the geomechanical information needed for integrity assessment, namely the compressional and shear slowness in cased hole, stress barrier limits, and natural fracture distribution.

First, full waveform sonic logs that provide compressional and shear slowness (1/velocity) are generally acknowledged as the key data missing from the information evaluation…