Coupled reservoir-geomechanical analysis of the potential for tensile and shear failure associated with CO2 injection in multilayered reservoir-caprock systems

Coupled reservoir-geomechanical simulations were conductedto study the potential for tensile and shear failure e.g., tensilefracturing and shear slip along pre-existing fractures associated withunderground CO2 injection in a multilayered geological system. Thisfailure analysis aimed to study factors affecting the potential forbreaching a geological CO2 storage system and to study methods forestimating the maximum CO2 injection pressure that could be sustainedwithout causing such a breach. We pay special attention to geomechanicalstress changes resulting from upward migration of the CO2 and how theinitial stress regime affects the potential for inducing failure. Weconclude that it is essential to have an accurate estimate of thethree-dimensional in situ stress field to support the design andperformance assessment of a geological CO2 injection operation. Moreover,we also conclude that it is important to consider mechanical stresschanges that might occur outside the region of increased reservoir fluidpressure (e.g., in the overburden rock) between the CO2-injectionreservoir and the ground surface.