Wellbore stability of horizontal drain drilled into the direction of the minimum horizontal stress

Abstract

Nowadays, Wellbore stability analysis is an essential part of a comprehensive field study designed to minimize the risk of drilling operations and thus reduce the costs associated with these operations in the oil and gas industry. The primary objective of this research is to build and analyze a 1D mechanical earth model and assess the wellbore stability based on drilling events, core data, and geophysical logs of vertical well '1'. This analysis includes estimating the appropriate mud window and determining the magnitudes of in-situ stresses and their orientations, and generating a synthetic wellbore image log in order to determine regional deformations 𝜀𝑚𝑖𝑛 and 𝜀𝑚𝑎𝑥. The insights gained from this analysis will guide the drilling of a nearby pilot well, referred to as Well '2'. The analysis of the pilot well will involve elaborating a 1D mechanical earth model, analyzing wellbore stability, and evaluating petrophysical and geomechanical characteristics. Specifically, a predrill model will be created from the previous models for the horizontal drain of the pilot which will subsequently undergo fracturing operations to exploit the compact zones exhibiting low petrophysical characteristics.