Electrical wellbore images had been used extensively in Mexico in order to identify geological features including the distribution and continuity of fractures in carbonate reservoirs.

The main problem associated with the evaluation of fracture continuity has been the fact that sometimes is difficult to distinguish between natural fractures (those present in the rock before drilling) and induced fractures (produced as direct result of drilling), especially when shallow depth of investigation electrical imaging tools are used.

Drilling induced fractures observed in carbonate rocks occur as a result of reduction of stress field around the wellbore and propagate in a direction perpendicular to the unloading direction. In this study, the integration of mechanical properties derived from dipole sonic data and wellbore images has considerably improved the understanding of the induced fracture development.

Keywords:
reservoir characterization, evaluation, tensile fracture, investigation, upstream oil & gas, carbonate reservoir, wellbore, well logging, resolution, drilling
Subjects:
Hydraulic Fracturing, Reservoir Characterization, Formation Evaluation & Management, Open hole/cased hole log analysis
Copyright 1994, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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