Radial profiling of the three formation shear moduli and its application to well completions

Abstract

Near-wellbore alteration in shear stiffnesses in the three orthogonal planes can be described in terms of radial variations of the three shear moduli or slownesses. The three shear moduli are different in formations exhibiting orthorhombic or lower degree of symmetry, as is the case in deviated wellbores in triaxially stressed formations. These shear moduli are affected by factors such as overbalanced drilling, borehole stress concentrations, shale swelling, near-wellbore mechanical damage, and supercharging of permeable formations. The two vertical shear moduli [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in an anisotropic formation with a vertical [Formula: see text]-axis are obtained from crossed-dipole sonic data, whereas the horizontal shear modulus [Formula: see text] is estimated from borehole Stoneley data. The effective shear modulus [Formula: see text] is smaller than the vertical shear moduli [Formula: see text] or [Formula: see text] in a poroelastic formation exhibiting high horizontal fluid mobility. Consequently, analyses of radial profiling of the three shear moduli in a reasonably uniform lithology interval yield useful correlations, with mobility impaired by an increased amount of clay or by near-wellbore damage in a shaley sand reservoir interval in a North Sea vertical well. Radial profiling results help to identify suitable depths for fluid sampling and to complete a well for optimum production.