oa The Role of Geomechanics in Reservoir Stimulation Design Procedure

Hydraulic fracturing treatment preceded with reliable geomechanical analysis of the reservoir, whether carried out immediately after well completion or during late stages of the reservoir lifetime (refracturing among others), helps to avoid near-wellbore area damage and the hydrocarbons production increase, through the creation of the artificial fracture network and therefore enabling free flow of the gas from the unconventional formation into the wellbore. The practice of stimulation treatment by fracturing the geologic formation reaches 1947, but the early application of hydraulic fracturing was not successful due to the problems with diagnosis of the complications and selection of wells that were about to be subjected to the treatment. Over the last two decades numerous cases of successful secondary fracturing were recorded in the hydrocarbons reservoirs in North America, Russia, China, Brazil and Algeria. Obviously the potential for production increase have hydrocarbon deposits around the world, especially those at advanced stage of exploitation. In most of the cases the use of such treatments is much more economical than determining optimal location, well design, drilling and completion of new well.