Abstract
This paper investigates the effect on compaction and subsidence induced by gas production using two techniques for coupling fluid-flow and geomechanics. To this end, a synthetic case representing a typical, shallow, weakly compacted, multi-layered, off-shore gas reservoir in the Adriatic Sea was set up and its dynamic and mechanic behavior during gas production was analyzed. Three numerical models (i.e., geological; fluid-flow and geomechanical) were built using high quality data set from an existing gas-bearing formation (off-shore Croatia). The laboratory analyses for deformation and strength parameters determination were conducted together with tests to define the coupling law required by the adopted coupling technique. Experimental data showed strong permeability stress-dependent behavior of core samples retrieved from gas bearing layers. Nevertheless, the results showed that the system stress-strain evolution always remains in the elastic domain and the deformation magnitude is extremely narrow (10−4 m/m) due to the limited net effective stress variation induced by the stressed production scenarios. The difference between the coupling techniques is negligible in terms of subsidence evolution at ground level but not in terms of compaction at reservoir level. Furthermore, the two-way coupled technique could be used for better development planning by integrating reservoir, drilling and completion management.
Highlights
Massive prospection activities and natural gas production has been seen offshore the NorthAdriatic Sea since the 1960s
The scope of this paper is to investigate the effect of coupling techniques for compaction and subsidence phenomena simulation induced in shallow, weakly compacted reservoirs by gas exploitation
The effect of coupling techniques for subsidence phenomena simulation induced by gas The effect of coupling techniques for subsidence phenomena simulation induced by gas exploitation was investigated in this paper
Summary
Massive prospection activities and natural gas production has been seen offshore the NorthAdriatic Sea since the 1960s. Because of the high urbanization rate of the North Adriatic coast, particular attention has been paid to predicting long-term induced subsidence, as good practice of a sustainable oil industry approach [1,2] To this end, numerous fluid-flow and geomechanical numerical models have been set up and eventually calibrated to analyze the phenomena both at single reservoir scale as well as at global regional scale [3,4,5,6]. In case of shallow and weakly compacted reservoirs, petrophysical effects (in terms of porosity and permeability variation) relating to compaction can be pronounced In this scenario, subsidence induced by reservoir compaction can be very complex phenomena
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