Jorg Herwanger (MP GeoMechanics)

The main geomechanical applications in this course will focus on fractures and hydraulic stimulation (fracture orientation and containment, re-activation of pre-existing fractures versus creation of new fractures, shear fractures versus tensile fractures, fault stability), and wellbore stability.

 The ultimate goal of a geomechanics course is to enable course participants to build geomechanical models and apply these successfully to field development issues. Given this is only a 2 day course it should be seen as the first step to achieve this wider objective but we  realistically expect course participants after attending the course to:

• Understand the worksteps in building geomechanical models, and to be familiar in the theory behind these worksteps
• Know what additional resources and standard textbooks can be used to build and apply geomechanical models
• Have clarity in understanding in the assumptions in geomechanical projects, and be in a position to make a judgement on data requirements and input parameters. There will be ample discussion on assumptions made in different approaches to building geomechanical models
• Read and understand geomechanical reports provided by service companies
• Be able to challenge methods and assumptions in geomechanical reports with the report authors and have an informed discussion to improve the end result of a geomechanical project provide by a service company
• Avoid the fate of becoming a person that unthinkingly clicks buttons in a software application to complete a workflow (“Nintendo-Geoscientists”). It is the aim of this course to impart understanding of Geomechanics that creates confidence in building and applying geomechanical models

The main geomechanical applications in this course will on fractures and hydraulic stimulation (fracture orientation and containment, re-activation of pre-existing fractures versus creation of new fractures, shear fractures versus tensile fractures, fault stability), and wellbore stability. The course time will be split in equal parts between (i) underlying theory, (ii) building and calibrating 1D wellbore centric geomechanical models and (iii) building, calibrating and applying 3D and 4D geomechanical models. Special emphasis is placed on using 3D seismic inversions as a data source (if available).