Utility of instrumented indentation for the optimization of horizontal wellbore completions with examples from the Montney formation of Alberta and British Columbia
department or school: Science, Faculty of
department or school: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Hazell, Arthur James Scott
issued: 2021-01-05T22:44:28Z
issued: 2021
related degree: Master of Science - MSc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Unconventional shale reservoirs are commonly exploited by drilling horizontal wellbores up to several kilometers in length. Hydraulic fracture completions of a wellbore are designed, in part, based on the geomechanical properties of the reservoir. The completion program is executed in a series of stages, typically spaced at regular intervals along the length of the lateral, without consideration of variable lithology and geomechanical properties that may exist along the length of the borehole. Assessing the geomechanical properties and stress conditions along the lateral has proven difficult due to the cost and challenge of obtaining core samples for analyses. Drill cuttings derived during drilling provide an opportunity to characterize the reservoir geomechanical properties, including the elastic moduli. If such small samples can be tested reliably and be shown to be scalable to the reservoir, the geomechanical variability along a wellbore can be measured and exploited with planned hydraulic fracture completions at geomechanical sweet spots. In this thesis, the utility of instrumented indentation for characterizing geomechanical variation in shale core chips and drill cuttings is evaluated. Indentation testing on mineral and shale samples assesses the effects of indentation and sample parameters on indentation results, suggesting that samples of size 841 µm, tested at 50 – 200 mN load, with at least 83 standard indentations are likely to provide repeatable and representative mean indentation results. Indentation can characterize geomechanical variability between shale core chips and drill cuttings samples with centimeter differences in sample depth. Repeatable indentation results are compared for indentation tests, as well as unoriented and oriented subsamples; oriented subsamples showed 2 – 18 % greater mean indentation modulus in samples with bedding oriented parallel to the direction of indentation, compared to bedding perpendicular, indicating the effects of me…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/76953
note: UTILITY OF INSTRUMENTED INDENTATION FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF HORIZONTAL WELLBORE COMPLETIONS WITH EXAMPLES FROM THE MONTNEY FORMATION OF ALBERTA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA by Arthur James Scott Hazell B.Sc., The University of British Columbia, 2016 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Geological Sciences) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) January 2021 © Arthur James Scott Hazell, 2021 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: UTILITY OF INSTRUMENTED INDENTATION FOR THE OPTIMIZATION OF HORIZONTAL WELLBORE COMPLETIONS WITH EXAMPLES FROM THE MONTNEY FORMATION OF ALBERTA AND BRITISH COLUMBIA submitted by Arthur James Scott Hazell in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geological Sciences Examining Committee: R. Marc Bustin, Professor, Department of EOAS, UBC Supervisor Erik Eberhardt, Professor, Department of EOAS, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Lori Kennedy, Associate Professor, Department of EOAS, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Stuart Sutherland, Professor of Teaching, Department of EOAS, UBC Additional Examiner iii Abstract Unconventional shale reservoirs are commonly exploited by drilling horizontal wellbores up to several kilometers in length. Hydraulic fracture completions of a wellbore are designed, in part, based on the geomechanical properties of the reservoir. The completion program is executed in a series of stages, typically spaced at regular intervals along the length of the lateral, without consideration of variable lithology and geomechanical properties that may exist along the length of the borehole. Assessing the geomechanical properties and stress conditions along the lateral has proven difficult due to the cost and challenge of obtaining core samples for analyses. Drill cu…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2021-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0395457
language: eng
degree discipline: Geological Sciences
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76953