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In Situ Stress Evolution and Fault-Slip Tendency Assessment of an Underground Gas Storage Reservoir in the Turpan Basin (China): In Situ Stress Measurements and Coupled Simulations

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Abstract

Fault slip induced by gas injection and extraction cycles in underground gas storage (UGS) sites have been reported in many countries. Knowledges of the contemporary in situ stress condition and its evolution with gas injection and extraction cycles are crucial to estimate the fault-slip tendency (\({T}_{\mathrm{s}}\)). Using the Wx-1 UGS reservoir in the Turpan Basin (China) as an example, we studied the evolution of the stress state and fault-slip tendency associated with the injection and extraction cycles. To assess the minimum horizontal stress (Shmin) in the storage reservoir and its caprock, we conduct flowback-assisted minifrac tests to measure the magnitudes. The magnitudes of maximum horizontal stress (Shmax) were estimated and constrained by multiple sources. The 3D in situ stress field was constructed by the finite-element method (FEM), constrained by field stress measurements. Using coupled reservoir–geomechanical simulations, we estimated the changes in stress state over time and the tendency for fault slip in response to gas injection and extraction. The results showed that (1) the in situ stress state at Wx-1 UGS field is a strike-slip (SS) faulting stress state; (2) for fault-slip analysis, decoupled analysis considering only the pore pressure-induced fault slip can overestimate the pore pressure needed to cause the fault slip (\({P}_{\mathrm{sf}}\)), while coupled analysis using a poroelastic FEM formulation considers both pore pressure and injection-induced shear stress changes and can provide more reasonable estimates of \({P}_{\mathrm{sf}}\); (3) both the mean effective stresses (\(p^{\prime}\)) and shear stresses (\(\tau\)) changes with the injection and extraction cycles; (4) the fault-slip tendency increases continuously with gas injection and decreases with gas extraction; (5) the faults striking at low angles with respect to the orientation of Shmax are critically stressed in the contemporary in situ stress field, and the possibility of injection-induced fault slippage is the controlling factor of the maximum operation pressure (MOP) of this UGS site.

Highlights

  • Flowback-assisted minifrac tests were conducted in the low-permeability caprock formations to measure the in situ stress conditions efficiently. 3D in situ stress field was constructed by FEM simulations and constrained by minifrac tests.

  • Coupled reservoir–geomechanics simulations were used to investigate the in situ stress evolution with gas injection and production cycles and to analyze the fault-slip tendency.

  • The slip tendency undergoes temporal changes due to the fluctuation of both shear stress and mean effective stress during injection and extraction cycles.

  • The maximum operation pressure (MOP) of this UGS site is determined by the likelihood of fault slippage caused by injection.

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Data availability

The supplementary file containing the minifrac data discussed in the paper is available for access.

Notes

  1. https://www.mathworks.com/products/optimization.html.

Abbreviations

BHP:

Bottom hole pressure

ISIP:

Instantaneous shut-in pressure

MOP:

Maximum operating pressure

g :

Gravitational acceleration

G :

G Time used in G-function analysis

k :

Reservoir permeability

\({P}_{\mathrm{b}}\) :

Formation breakdown pressure

\({P}_{\mathrm{c}}\) :

Fracture closure pressure

\({P}_{\mathrm{r}}\) :

Reservoir pore pressure

\({P}_{\mathrm{sf}}\) :

Pore pressure needed for fault slip

\(\rho\) :

Rock density

S min :

Minimum principal stress

S hmin :

Minimum horizontal principal stress

S hmax :

Maximum horizontal principal stress

S v :

Vertical principal stress

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the management of the PetroChina Turpan Oil Field Company and Origin Geomechanics Inc. for allowing the publication of this paper. The comments provided by the four anonymous reviewers were beneficial to this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China

    Jingqi Zhang

  2. Gas Storage Project Management Department of PetroChina Tuha Oilfield Company, Shanshan, 838202, China

    Yixiang Fan, Wenchao Liu & Huituan Liu

  3. Origin Geomechanics Inc., Calgary, AB, T3H 0X6, Canada

    Bin Xu

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, T2A 1N4, Canada

    Bin Xu

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  1. Jingqi Zhang
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Zhang, J., Fan, Y., Liu, W. et al. In Situ Stress Evolution and Fault-Slip Tendency Assessment of an Underground Gas Storage Reservoir in the Turpan Basin (China): In Situ Stress Measurements and Coupled Simulations. Rock Mech Rock Eng 56, 8019–8039 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-023-03477-y

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