In-situ stress analysis

The importance

• A good understanding of the in-situ stress field in a reservoir can help operators to build a geomechanical earth model for optimized drilling performance as well as well completion strategies; 
• In unconventional reservoirs, it is crucial to gather in-situ stress data as required input for hydraulic fracture modeling and prediction in lateral stimulation;​
• In conventional reservoirs, wellbore instability concerns can be better addressed in a geomechanical earth model with accurate in-situ stress data interpreted from borehole images.

In-situ stress interpretation

• Maximum horizontal in-situ stress can be derived from drilling induced fractures which is often imaged on high resolution borehole image logs;

• In-situ stress data maybe also indicated by borehole breakouts visible on images and/or oriented caliper logs. Cross-dipole acoustic log, if available, is also very useful dataset for in-situ stress characterization.