Evaluation of shear slip stress transfer mechanism for induced microseismicity at In Salah CO2 storage site

Stress transfer caused by injection-induced fault reactivation plays a significant role in triggering induced seismicity. This work aims to investigate to which extent the shear slip stress transfer mechanism might have contributed to a 4-month period of heightened microseismicity around one of the horizontal injection wells (KB502) at the In Salah CO2 storage site. Building upon previous reservoir modelling and history matching work by the authors, coupled geomechanical and reservoir modelling of CO2 injection at KB-502 was carried out, featuring the explicit simulation of injection-induced fault reactivation and stress transfer, and the implementation of a strain-dependent permeability model to represent the fault hydrological behaviour. This approach allows a much-improved overall match to the field bottomhole pressures at KB-502 over the previous results, where fault zone reactivation and associated dynamic permeability behaviour were not considered, especially over the 4-month period of interest. Based upon the coupled modelling results, Coulomb stress changes were used to evaluate the potential for enhanced microseismicity related to CO2 injection-induced fault reactivation at KB502. Analyses on the potential for microseismicity have shown that seismic events are likely to take place in both hydraulically connected regions and stress transfer influenced regions. The variation of computed Coulomb stress changes in near-fault areas compares favourably with the heightened field recorded seismicity during the period modelled. The integrated interpretation of microseismic monitoring and coupled geomechanics and reservoir modelling have suggested that the shear slip stress transfer mechanism was active and contributed to the occurrence of induced seismicity at In Salah.

Automated summary

This study investigates the impact of injection-induced fault reactivation and stress transfer on induced seismicity at the In Salah CO2 storage site through geomechanical and reservoir modeling. The results show that the shear slip stress transfer mechanism played a significant role in the heightened microseismicity around one of the horizontal injection wells during a 4-month period.