Geomechanics integrates different aspects, such as rock mechanics, geology, geophysics, petrophysics, log interpretation and engineering, thus achieving an optimal development for an economical and safe production of resources in conventional and unconventional reservoirs.

 

Geomechanics is the science that studies the elastic properties of rocks and their relationship with stresses in the subsurface, under unchanged conditions or in response to changes arising from the oil industry operations (drilling, stimulation and production).

 

Under this scope, geomechanics focuses on the stress-strain relationship, elastic, plastic or fracture responses and the consequences in each stage of the development cycle of a reservoir, from exploration to abandonment.

 

Geomechanics grows significantly with the start of unconventional reservoir exploitation, but its contributions are observed on the improvements to the optimization of conventional well drilling in different environments, hydraulic fractures in wells with formation damage, subsidence analysis, seal integrity, etc. However, it should be noted that there are many aspects in the industry still to be solved or improved. In addition, Geomechanics has an important field of application in topics such as CO2 underground storage and Geothermics.

 

The Technical program will focus on the advances and research applied to rock mechanics and geomechanics in the oil industry, emphasizing the versatility of this topic to deal with obstacles during the life of the assets, optimizing their exploitation and improving sustainability.

 

We extend the invitation to everyone to participate with technical papers including the geosciences and engineering, applicable to conventional and unconventional reservoirs and interdisciplinary. We also invite those participating in the 2-day pre-congress workshop.

 

 

Subthemes:

 

• Conventional reservoirs

• Open hole geomechanics and drilling stability.
• Characterization of pore pressure and fracture gradient.
• Characterization of reservoirs, compaction and subsidence at reservoir scale.
• Casing buckling.
• Geomechanics during [well] production, decline and intervention.
• Risks during injection/depletion, fault stability and reactivation and natural fractures.

• Unconventional reservoirs

• Drilling challenges: design, drilling and construction of horizontal wells.
• Design and modeling of hydraulic fracturing.
• Hydraulic fracture interference.
• Geomechanical aspects during production: decline;   damage mechanisms and mitigation, compaction and subsidence at well and reservoir scale.
• Infill drilling and refracturing: applications and lessons learned.
• Characterization and modeling of natural fracture networks.
• Geomechanical characterization of shale and tight rocks.
• Characterization and multiscale modeling of heterogeneous formations.
• Casing and cement plug integrity.

 

• Interdisciplinary

• Temperature, acoustic and strain measurements through fiber optics.
• Geomechanical laboratory tests.
• Integration of Geophysics, Geochemistry and Geomechanics.
• Data analysis applications and automated learning in Geomechanics.
• Constitutive behavior in geomechanics: experiments, simulations and applications.
• Underground CO2 capture and storage.
• Geomechanics in salt systems; subsurface storage in evaporites.
• Geomechanics applied to geothermal energy.

 

Reference Team:

 

Damian Hryb, YPF

Scarlet Guerra, Sinopec

Ariel Sanchez Camus, UNLP

Marcelo Frydman, Phoenix Global

Sergio Cuervo, Chevron

Claudia Terán, YPF

Martín Paris

Alejandro Nawratil, Capsa