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Method and Application of Stress Inversion based on Strike, Dip, and Rake Data from Microseismic Focal Mechanisms and Fracture Network

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Abstract

The hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells is a key stimulation technology for unconventional tight oil/gas reservoirs. Good knowledge of the near-well stress field of a horizontal well can be helpful for the hydraulic fracture design optimization of new wells and refrac design optimization of fractured wells. Azimuth and dip data derived from either focal mechanisms of hydraulic fracturing-induced microseismic events or fracture attributes of hydraulic fracture networks can be used for new-well stress field inversion. In this work, we present a novel stress inversion method integrating azimuth, dip, and rake data from the focal mechanisms of hydraulically induced microseismic events and fracture attributes of hydraulic fracture networks. For those stages having sufficient reliable microseismic focal mechanisms, strike, dip, and rake data derived from microseismic focal mechanisms are taken as input data for stress inversion. Meanwhile, for those stages that have no microseismic events or insufficient reliable microseismic focal mechanisms, azimuth and dip data derived from fracture attributes of prebuilt hydraulic fracture network are used for stress inversion, along with azimuth, dip, and rake data derived from other stages with sufficient reliable microseismic focal mechanisms. Thus, the near-well stress field of each stage can be inverted, regardless of whether or not it has hydraulically induced microseismic events. The new method has been applied in the field surface microseismic dataset during hydraulic fracture stimulation. The results reveal that the inverted near-well stress fields are consistent with the stress orientation derived from shear-wave splitting analysis for sonic logs. This finding demonstrates that the stress inversion method based on strike, dip, and rake data derived from microseismic focal mechanisms and fracture networks can correctly obtain the azimuths of maximum and minimum horizontal stress.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2022JCCXMT01). We would like to acknowledge and express our gratitude to the Tight Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Project Department of PetroChina for providing the microseismic datasets used in this research. Additionally, we would like to extend our appreciation to OptaSoft, which provided technical support and enabled microseismic data processing throughout the research process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geosciences and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chao Xu & Ruizhao Yang

  2. School of Mine Safety, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Sanhe, 065201, China

    Zhengguang Zhao

  3. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 065201, Australia

    Zhengguang Zhao

  4. Down-Hole Operating Company, CNPC Chuanqing Drilling and Exploration Engineering Co., Ltd, Chengdu, 610052, China

    Bin Guan & Le He

  5. Tight Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Project Department of PetroChina, Chengdu, 610052, China

    Lin Yang

Authors
  1. Chao Xu
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  2. Ruizhao Yang
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  3. Zhengguang Zhao
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  4. Bin Guan
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  5. Lin Yang
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Correspondence to Zhengguang Zhao.

Additional information

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2022JCCXMT01).

Chao Xu is a PhD candidate at China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing). His main work is passive seismic signal processing and interpretation. His main research interests include shallow surface seismic exploration, unconventional oil and gas exploration, and geothermal exploration. His contact information is China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), 11 Ding Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 10083, China. His email address is maple_xc@163.com

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Xu, C., Yang, R., Zhao, Z. et al. Method and Application of Stress Inversion based on Strike, Dip, and Rake Data from Microseismic Focal Mechanisms and Fracture Network. Appl. Geophys. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-024-1091-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11770-024-1091-x

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