Effect of thermal responses of Colorado shale on wellbore integrity

Biao Li, Ron C.K. Wong

In the proceedings of: GeoOttawa 2017: 70th Canadian Geotechnical Conference; 12th joint with IAH-CNC

Session: Rock Mechanics III

ABSTRACT: Thermal processes have been widely used to recover heavy oil from oil sands reservoirs, where the overburden shale undergoes cyclic heating and cooling processes. During steam injection processes, thermally induced pore pressure can be developed in the shale formation around a thermal well and thermal pore pressure may lead to tensile fracturing in the shale. After long-term of heating, clay shale may display thermal contraction behavior due to removal of the smectite interlayer water and the shale formation will not be able to provide mechanical confinement for the wellbore. In this study, the effect of thermally induced pore pressure in Colorado shale on the integrity of a thermal well is investigated using thermal-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled finite element analysis. The effect of thermal contraction in shale on wellbore integrity is also addressed using an analytical thermal-mechanical solution.

RÉSUMÉ: bitumineux repose souvent sur des processus thermiques qui vapeur, une pression interstitielle induite par la chaleur peut se développpuits thermique et mener à une fracturation par traction. Après une longue période de chauffage, le schiste argileux peut la smectite. La formation examiné (THM). contraction thermomécanique.

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Cite this article:
Biao Li; Ron C.K. Wong (2017) Effect of thermal responses of Colorado shale on wellbore integrity in GEO2017. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Geotechnical Society.

@article{geo2017Paper136,author = Biao Li; Ron C.K. Wong,title = Effect of thermal responses of Colorado shale on wellbore integrity,year = 2017}