New Variable Compliance Method for Estimating In-Situ Stress and Leak-Off from DFIT Data

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new variable compliance method that improves the accuracy of estimating in-situ stress and leak-off rates from DFIT data, addressing limitations of previous Carter leak-off assumptions.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel variable compliance approach that enhances the accuracy of in-situ stress and leak-off estimations from DFIT data, overcoming oversimplifications of prior methods.

Findings

Previous Carter leak-off assumptions cause significant errors.

The new method provides more reliable stress and leak-off estimates.

Modeling confirms improved accuracy of the proposed approach.

Abstract

It is shown that using Carter leak-off is an oversimplification that leads to significant errors in the interpretation of DFIT data. Most importantly, this article reveals that previous methods of estimating minimum in-situ stress often lead to significant over or underestimates. Based on our modeling and simulation results, we propose a much more accurate and reliable method to estimate the minimum in-situ stress and fracture pressure dependent leak-off rate.