Surface subsidence and uplift resulting from well interventions modeled with coupled analytical solutions: Application to Groningen gas extraction (Netherlands) and CO2-EOR in the Kelly-Snyder oil field (West Texas)

This study presents a novel analytical model for history-matching the observed subsidence and/or uplift due to, respectively, fluid extraction from – or injection into – the pore space of subsurface reservoirs. Development of the model was prompted by the need to have a fast evaluation tool to support the various exploitation modes of subsurface reservoirs, either in fluid extraction projects (hydrocarbons, aquifers, geothermal fields) or in fluid storage projects (waste water, natural gas, hydrogen, and CO₂-sequestration). The model proposed here is a novel analytical solution method obtained by coupling the vertical strain changes in a reservoir due to changes in reservoir pressure with a buckling plate model for the overburden. After a brief review of state-of-the-art (numerical and analytical tools), the coupled reservoir pressure change and overburden buckling model (in brief: pressure change-buckling model) is presented. Subsequently, the coupled pressure change-buckling model is applied in two case studies. The first case study history-matches the subsidence of the Groningen Field (Netherlands) over the period 1963–2020, due to the pressure depletion caused by natural gas extraction. The second case study applies the model to history-match the uplift history above an oil field in Scurry County (West Texas) over the period 2007–2011, due to net fluid injection related to enhanced oil recovery (EOR) activities. Separately, in addition to history-matching applications the coupled pressure change-buckling model can also be applied in forward modeling mode to predict the surface response of future operations involving pressure changes in subsurface reservoirs.