John McLennan

University of Utah

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Palash Panja

University of Utah

Milind Deo

University of Utah

Joseph N. Moore

University of Utah

Robert Podgorney

Idaho National Laboratory

Haiyan Zhu

Jinan University

Sídney Green

Enhanced Vision (United States)

J.-C. Roegiers

University of Oklahoma

Earl D. Mattson

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Mohamad Khodaverdian

Terra

Xuanhe Tang

Chengdu University of Technology

Cooperative Institutions

University of Utah

136

University of Wisconsin–Madison

126

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

China University of Petroleum, Beijing

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory

University of California, Berkeley

Schlumberger (British Virgin Islands)

Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Stress determination at great depth of the geothermal well on the University of Regina campus

J.-C. Roegiers John McLennan

10.4095/8373

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Citations (1)

Optimizing Hydraulic Fracturing in the Paradox Formation: Geomechanical Study of the Cane Creek Play

50th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium (2024)

Noam Zach Dvory John McLennan Brian McPherson

ABSTRACT: The Cane Creek Play, known for its potential in unconventional tight oil extraction, presents drilling challenges. This study revisits its viability in modern horizontal drilling techniques, focusing on the interplay between hydraulic fracturing, stress states, and existing fractures/faults. While historical views emphasize the role of natural fractures in productivity, our results indicate that their stimulation may not be inherently linked to well output. The planar fracture modeling approach adopted here advances our understanding by providing a granular view of the shear potential of geological features, revealing that significant stress alterations are necessary to initiate slip. The study proposes a redefined approach to hydraulic fracturing that prioritizes detailed characterization of stress states and fracture dynamics, with implications for sustainable and economically viable extraction practices. Future research should further explore the interplay between pore pressure and stress shadow dynamics in unconventional reservoir stimulation. 1. INTRODUCTION The Cane Creek Play in the Pennsylvanian-age Paradox Formation in southeastern Utah is regarded as a promising yet challenging, unconventional tight oil play in the US, with a history marked by drilling and completion difficulties. Initially identified nearly a century ago, substantial exploration resumed only in the early 1990s with the advent of horizontal drilling technology. Despite some successful wells, achieving substantial production remained elusive. Research, sponsored by the US Department of Energy, aims to leverage the basin's geomechanics knowledge and develop sustainable and economic stimulation strategies. A common hypothesis that local operators hold is that the main challenge in developing Cane Creek Play is successfully accessing natural fractures. Yet, studies such as Walton & McLennan (2013) have shown that natural fractures may not significantly contribute to productivity. We acknowledge that the natural fractures stimulation approach is valid when there is a tractable number of relatively large conductive fractures or faults or possibly when their orientation relative to the stress field is optimal for slippage. Considering slippage-related conductivity, we recognize two mechanisms that might trigger slip: (1) the decrease in the effective stress due to pore pressure rise in the vicinity of the propagating hydraulic fracture and (2) the increase of the differential stress over the fracture surface due to stress shadow propagation. The two mechanisms depend on the hydraulic fracture propagation and the stimulation fluids leakoff into the rock – the latter will be relatively small from a matrix perspective. Recent Eagle Ford, Permian, and Junggar Basins studies reported a detailed characterization of hydraulic fracture propagation. These studies showed, from slant core fracture characteristics and fiber optic studies, that hydraulic fractures in those plays typically spread in strands of fracture swarms that are oriented in the direction of the maximum horizontal stress (Gale et al., 2018, 2021; Raterman et al., 2017, 2019; Shi et al., 2022; Ugueto et al., 2021). Specifically, Ugueto et al. (2021) showed broadly linear fracture hits in offset wells, which implies that fracture propagation behaviors such as branching and stepovers are limited to a small scale. Those findings suggest that in a permeability range representing tight reservoirs (0.01-0.1md), the effect of pore pressure distribution in the far field is localized and, therefore, levels up the potential for slip triggered by the stress shadow distribution. Microseismicity, specifically for multi-stage hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells, is primarily attributed to shear slip on pre-existing fractures and faults.

Cane

10.56952/arma-2024-1158

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Microbial production of methane and carbon dioxide from lignite, bituminous coal, and coal waste materials

International Journal of Coal Geology (2012)

Aleksandra Opara Dean Adams Michael L. Free John McLennan J. Hugh Hamilton

Bituminous coal

10.1016/j.coal.2012.02.010

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Citations (86)

Utah FORGE: Well 56-32 Drilling Data and Logs

OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (2021)

Justin Bristol Steve Caldwell Virgil Welch Paul Stroud Brennan Williams-Mieding

Forge

10.15121/1777170

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Citations (4)

Poroelasticity considerations in In Situ stress determination by hydraulic fracturing

International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts (1989)

Emmanuel Detournay Alexander H.‐D. Cheng J.-C. Roegiers John McLennan

Poromechanics

Closure (psychology)

Geomechanics

Stress field

10.1016/0148-9062(89)91428-9

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Citations (77)

Evaluation of enhanced coalbed methane recovery and carbon dioxide sequestration potential in high volatile bituminous coal

Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering (2021)

Oluwafemi John Omotilewa Palash Panja Carlos Vega-Ortiz John McLennan

Coalbed Methane

Bituminous coal

10.1016/j.jngse.2021.103979

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Citations (33)

A Laboratory Study on Increased Assurance and Understanding Storage Mechanisms of E&P Waste Injection into an Unconsolidated Formation

SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production (2008)

John McLennan Quanxin Guo Cong Wang Thomas Geehan Joel W. Martin

Abstract Injection of E&P wastes into a deep geologic repository has become increasingly important from both economic and technical perspectives – it can provide a long-term containment of the injected waste. There have been instances where problems have developed with injection – problems that can be costly in terms of remediation. This is especially true as waste injection projects become larger and more challenging. Multi-million barrels of drilling and production wastes have been injected into individual wells raising questions about where do the injected wastes go and why can so much be injected into a single formation. There are a number of inconsistent theories and analytical models for explaining the large storage mechanisms. A laboratory study was carried out to try to clarify these diverse models and to offer understanding on storage mechanisms for increased assurance. Drill cuttings slurries and produced water were injected, separately and commingled, into a highly permeable and weakly consolidated rock. Two experiments are summarized in this paper – one with cuttings-laden slurry only and one with cycled injections of cuttings and simulated produced water. Key observations included the following: local formation heterogeneity controls solid deposition and containment significant near-fracture plugging (tip and flanks) for the lean, small particle slurry tested would advocate modification of conventional simulators to reflect leak-off degradation with increasing throughput sequential small volume injection falloff cycles can be processed to represent evolving reduction in fluid loss stimulation fracturing technologies can be applied to diagnose injector performance, especially tip plugging These findings and conclusions offer the potential for refinement of models for E&P waste injector risk management and increased waste containment assurance.

Containment (computer programming)

Drill cuttings

10.2118/111707-ms

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Interaction of geology, mechanical properties and in-situ stresses in hydraulic fracturing

International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences & Geomechanics Abstracts (1985)

Jeffrey N. Schuyler John McLennan

10.1016/0148-9062(85)90253-0

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Modeling of In-Situ Indentation Tests in the Framework of Material Point Method

50th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium (2022)

Long Hu R. Bhide William Nguyen Darryl P. Butt John McLennan

ABSTRACT: This work presents numerical simulations of a series of In-situ TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) indentation tests using the framework of the Material Point Method (MPM). The selection of MPM is based on its robust capacity for handling large deformation problems which could otherwise be an arduous challenge for mesh-based numerical methods such as the finite element method due to issues with mesh tangling. In this work, the nanoparticles were represented with a collection of material points which carry all the information relevant to the material. The mechanical bonds between particles were simulated with cohesive elements. For simplicity, our current model is a 2D simulation and 3D modeling is pending. Furthermore, up-scaling was necessary to avoid excessively small-time steps. Comparison between the experimental data and the numerical results shows that the numerical modeling with MPM successfully simulates the failure processes manifested by the test specimens including both tensile and shear failure. Our simulation experience also suggests that using an implicit scheme in MPM could be a suitable and beneficial way for extending the application of this powerful numerical technique. 1. INTRODUCTION Nanoindentation is a common and convenient experimental protocol to investigate near-surface mechanical properties, to depths of a few micrometers (Schuh, 2006; Oyen and Cook, 2009; Wheeler, 2015; Ma et al., 2020). The complementary application of in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) enables the observation of deformation and creation of cracks at a micro scale (Minor et al., 2002; Sun et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2017). Unlike the considerable progress and extended applications of indentation tests for revealing the material behavior at nano/micro scale, numerical modeling of this technique in particulate agglomerates - at a micron scale - is relatively rare (Sajjad et al., 2020;). The biggest challenge arises from the large deformation relative to the particle size and the complicated interaction/movement between the particles. Commonly used mesh-based numerical methods such as the finite element method will fail due to mesh tangling if sophisticated and time-consuming mesh treatments are not employed. In this work, we simulated experimental in-situ TEM nanoindentation tests using the framework of the Material Point Method (MPM).

Indentation

Tensile testing

Material Point Method

10.56952/arma-2022-0330

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Advanced Analytics of Rig Parameter Data Using Rock Reduction Model Constraints for Improved Drilling Performance.

David J. Raymond Adam Foris Jaiden Norton John McLennan

10.2172/1889607

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