Hydraulic fracture modeling and 3D geomechanical modeling require accurate quantification of the magnitudes and directions of the principle stresses. In normal practice it is usually necessary to approximate the magnitude of SHmax, owing to a lack of field observations. The most common method used for this purpose is the wellbore breakout analysis (WBA). WBA is usually based on one observation taken from one well. In many cases, such an observation might not even exist, simply because the regional stresses are not high enough to cause any failure. Additionally, WBA results depend on rock strength properties, which are not typically known.

MicroSeismic makes a significant step change in the ability to quantify the magnitudes and direction of stresses in the ground through a full moment tensor analysis of individual microseismic events.  Microseismic focal mechanisms provide in-situ field measurements of the failure and explicitly accounts for treatment and rock properties.  These focal mechanisms are then used to compute the magnitude and direction of the principle stresses at individual event locations. This approach provides many advantages and improved accuracy in quantifying stresses compared to conventional techniques of inverting the global stress from a sample of focal mechanisms.  In this talk, we show how to determine the maximum horizontal stress with microseismic focal mechanism and present case studies in the Marcellus, Eagle Ford, and Wolfcamp basins.

Speaker Biography: Sudhendu Kashikar, MicroSeismic
Sudhendu “Kash” Kashikar has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.  He specializes in commercializing multi-disciplined technical solutions – bridging the gap between drilling, completions, and seismic.  Kash began his career with Schlumberger as a field engineer and worked numerous international assignments in operations, sales, marketing, and new technology development. Prior to joining MicroSeismic, Kash spent time developing and commercializing fiber optic distributed sensing technology and was the Global Head of Oil and Gas for Fibercore.

Kash has a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Poona and a Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.  He has authored numerous technical papers and patents.

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