Rock Physical Controls on Production-induced Compaction in the Groningen Field

Hol, Sander; Linden, Arjan van der; Bierman, S.M.; Marcelis, Fons; Makurat, A.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25455-z

Cited by 35 publications

(94 citation statements)

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“…The above noted sensitivity of the cumulative elastic and inelastic axial strains to initial porosity is similar to the porosity dependence of elastic and inelastic strains observed in previous triaxial tests on Slochteren sandstone (Hol, Mossop, et al, 2015;Hol et al, 2018;Schutjens et al, 1995) and other types of sandstone (e.g., Wong & Baud, 2012;Wong et al, 1997).Time-, hence, rate-dependent inelastic deformation behavior has been documented previously (Brantut et al, 2013;Heap et al, 2009Heap et al, , 2015, although often at higher differential stresses ([σ 1 À σ 3 ] = 50 to 400 MPa) than relevant for upper crustal hydrocarbon (or hydrothermal) fields, such as the Groningen gas field ([σ 1 À σ 3 ] ≤ 50 MPa). In addition, our data show an apparent rate dependence of the stress versus cumulative elastic axial strain curves (Figures 7a and 7c).…”

Section: 1029/2018jb015673supporting

confidence: 86%

“…The implication is that at least for these porosities, the assumption of a poroelastic reservoir response to pore pressure reduction leads to an overestimation of the stored energy available in the reservoir rock for driving seismicity by as much as 30–55%. These values are likely higher for sandstones with φ 0 ≥ 21.6%, since previous compression experiments performed on Slochteren sandstone under uniaxial strain conditions have shown an increasing relative contribution of inelastic strain, with increasing initial porosity (Hol, Mossop, et al, ; Hol et al, ; Schutjens et al, ). Moreover, our experiments yielded a larger contribution of inelastic deformation with decreasing strain rate (Figure ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“… Note . For comparison, data are shown as obtained for the water‐saturated interval of the Slochteren sandstone from the Zeerijp (ZRP‐)3a well, drilled in 2015, 5 km from the SDM‐1 well (see Hol et al, ).…”

Section: Sample Materials and Pore Fluid Chemistrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In loose quartz sand, the strength of grains has been shown to be distributed (Brzesowsky et al, 2011), with the weak grains failing in the early stages of deformation Karner et al, 2003). Moreover, inelastic deformation developing at the earliest stages of compression has also been demonstrated for cohesive sandstones (Hol et al, 2018;Shalev et al, 2014). This suggests that at least for these materials, inelastic strain development plus work hardening must occur continuously during loading and that deformation cannot be adequately described by a discrete yield criterion based on the onset of nonlinear stress-strain behavior (Karner et al, , 2003.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…While pressure solution is known to be an important deformation mechanism over timescales relevant for sandstone diagenesis (>10,000 years; Tada & Siever, 1989;Yang, 2000), existing rate data (Chester et al, 2004;Dewers & Hajash, 1995;Gratier & Guiguet, 1986;Niemeijer et al, 2002;Renard et al, 1999;Schutjens, 1991;van Noort et al, 2008) suggest that any contribution of this slow creep process to the compaction of quartz-rich reservoir rock will be small over timescales (decades) and temperatures (T < 150°C) relevant for upper crustal fluid extraction. Rather, for these conditions, inelastic deformation in sandstone is expected to be accommodated by the above grainscale, brittle processes (Baud et al, 2000;Brantut et al, 2013;Guéguen & Fortin, 2013;Heap et al, 2009Heap et al, , 2015Hol et al, 2018;Menéndez et al, 1996;Tengattini et al, 2014;Wong & Baud, 1999, 2012.…”

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Deformation Behavior of Sandstones From the Seismogenic Groningen Gas Field: Role of Inelastic Versus Elastic Mechanisms

et al. 2018

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Reduction of pore fluid pressure in sandstone oil, gas, or geothermal reservoirs causes elastic and possibly inelastic compaction of the reservoir, which may lead to surface subsidence and induced seismicity. While elastic compaction is well described using poroelasticity, inelastic and especially time‐dependent compactions are poorly constrained, and the underlying microphysical mechanisms are insufficiently understood. To help bridge this gap, we performed conventional triaxial compression experiments on samples recovered from the Slochteren sandstone reservoir in the seismogenic Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. Successive stages of active loading and stress relaxation were employed to study the partitioning between elastic versus time‐independent and time‐dependent inelastic deformations upon simulated pore pressure depletion. The results showed that inelastic strain developed from the onset of compression in all samples tested, revealing a nonlinear strain hardening trend to total axial strains of 0.4 to 1.3%, of which 0.1 to 0.8% were inelastic. Inelastic strains increased with increasing initial porosity (12–25%) and decreasing strain rate (10−5 s−1 to 10−9 s−1). Our results imply a porosity and rate‐dependent yield envelope that expands with increasing inelastic strain from the onset of compression. Microstructural evidence indicates that inelastic compaction was controlled by a combination of intergranular cracking, intergranular slip, and intragranular/transgranular cracking with intragranular/transgranular cracking increasing in importance with increasing porosity. The results imply that during pore pressure reduction in the Groningen field, the assumption of a poroelastic reservoir response leads to underestimation of the change in the effective horizontal stress and overestimation of the energy available for seismicity.

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Section: 1029/2018jb015673supporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Sample Materials and Pore Fluid Chemistrymentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Deformation Behavior of Sandstones From the Seismogenic Groningen Gas Field: Role of Inelastic Versus Elastic Mechanisms

et al. 2018

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Time‐resolved model for geothermal engineering in high porosity Slochteren sandstone

Singh

Fokker

2021

Num Anal Meth Geomechanics

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This work is an extension of the time‐resolved poro‐elasto‐plastic Mohr‐Coulomb model by Fokker et al to include a more realistic constitutive model. Experiments on Slochteren sandstone revealed that the inelastic deformation contributes significantly in compressive deformation almost in all stages of loading and instigated the development of a Cam‐Clay‐like model to reproduce the Slochteren sandstone behavior. This model was adopted for the current extension. A typical behavior of this model is that the presence of a borehole causes both elastic and inelastic deformation everywhere in the reservoir, as opposed to the conventional philosophy with plastic and elastic zones. Our solution handles the spatial and temporal evolution of pressures, permeability, elastic and plastic properties under the assumption of symmetric loading. The applicability of the approach is demonstrated through a number of cases, like fluid injection, shut‐in, production, stimulation, and an injection‐production sequence.

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Microphysics of Inelastic Deformation in Reservoir Sandstones from the Seismogenic Center of the Groningen Gas Field

Pijnenburg

Spiers

2020

Rock Mech Rock Eng

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Physics-based assessment of the effects of hydrocarbon production from sandstone reservoirs on induced subsidence and seismicity hinges on understanding the processes governing compaction of the reservoir. Compaction strains are typically small (ε < 1%) and may be elastic (recoverable), or partly inelastic (permanent), as implied by recent experiments. To describe the inelastic contribution in the seismogenic Groningen gas field, a Cam-clay-type plasticity model was recently developed, based on the triaxial test data obtained for sandstones from the Groningen reservoir (strain rate ~ 10 −5 s −1). To underpin the applicability of this model at production-driven strain rates (10 −12 s −1), we develop a simplified microphysical model, based on the deformation mechanisms observed in triaxial experiments at in situ conditions and compaction strains (ε < 1%). These mechanisms include consolidation of and slip on µm-thick clay films within sandstone grain contacts, plus intragranular cracking. The mechanical behavior implied by this model agrees favourably with the experimental data and Cam-clay description of the sandstone behavior. At reservoir-relevant strains, the observed behavior is largely accounted for by consolidation of and slip on the intergranular clay films. A simple analysis shows that such clay film deformation is virtually time insensitive at current stresses in the Groningen reservoir, so that reservoir compaction by these mechanisms is also expected to be time insensitive. The Cam-clay model is accordingly anticipated to describe the main trends in compaction behavior at the decade time scales relevant to the field, although compaction strains and lateral stresses may be slightly underestimated due to other, smaller creep effects seen in experiments.

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Rock Physical Controls on Production-induced Compaction in the Groningen Field

Cited by 35 publications

References 36 publications

Deformation Behavior of Sandstones From the Seismogenic Groningen Gas Field: Role of Inelastic Versus Elastic Mechanisms

Deformation Behavior of Sandstones From the Seismogenic Groningen Gas Field: Role of Inelastic Versus Elastic Mechanisms

Time‐resolved model for geothermal engineering in high porosity Slochteren sandstone

Microphysics of Inelastic Deformation in Reservoir Sandstones from the Seismogenic Center of the Groningen Gas Field

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