Reservoir Geomechanics

A Free Online Course from Stanford University

April 1, 2014 June 10, 2014

Stanford|ONLINE
For More Information and to Register for the Course at No Cost visit the URL:

gp202.class.stanford.edu
This interdisciplinary course encompasses the fields of rock mechanics, structural
geology, earthquake seismology and petroleum engineering to address a wide range of
geomechanical problems that arise during the exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs. The
course considers key practical issues such as prediction of pore pressure, estimation of
hydrocarbon column heights and fault seal potential, determination of optimally stable
well trajectories, casing set points and mud weights, changes in reservoir performance
during depletion, and production-induced faulting and subsidence. The first part of the
course establishes the basic principles involved in a way that allows readers from
different disciplinary backgrounds to understand the key concepts. The course is intended
for geoscientists and engineers in the petroleum and geothermal industries, and for
research scientists interested in stress measurements and their application to problems of
faulting and fluid flow in the crust.
Instructors:
Mark D. Zoback, Professor of Geophysics, Stanford University
Arjun H. Kohli, Graduate Teaching Assistant
The course consists of 20, 90 minute lectures (in ~20 minute segments). 2 lectures will be
made available each week starting April 1, 2014. The lectures will remain available
online through the end of the course. Most of the course follows Dr. Zobacks textbook,
Reservoir Geomechanics, with updated examples and applications.
Lectures 18 and 19 are on topics related to geomechanical issues affecting shale gas and
tight oil recovery. Lecture 20 is on the topic of managing the risk of triggered and
induced seismicity.
Reservoir Geomechanics is available from:
Cambridge University Press: www.cambridge.org/zoback
Amazon and Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Reservoir-Geomechanics-Mark-D-Zoback/dp/0521146194
About the Instructors:
Dr. Mark D. Zoback is the Benjamin M. Page Professor of Geophysics at Stanford
University. Dr. Zoback conducts research on in situ stress, fault mechanics, and reservoir
geomechanics with an emphasis on shale gas, tight gas and tight oil production. He was
one of the principal investigators of the SAFOD project in which a scientific research

well was successfully drilled through the San Andreas Fault at seismogenic depth. He is
the author of a textbook entitled Reservoir Geomechanics published in 2007 by
Cambridge University Press. He is the author/co-author of over 300 technical papers and
holds five patents. He was the co-founder of GeoMechanics International in 1996, where
he was Chairman of the Board until 2008. Dr. Zoback currently serves as a Senior
Executive Adviser to Baker Hughes. Dr. Zoback has received a number of awards and
honors, including the 2006 Emil Wiechert Medal of the German Geophysical Society and
the 2008 Walter H. Bucher Medal of the American Geophysical Union. In 2011, he was
elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and in 2012 elected to Honorary
Membership in the Society of Exploration Geophysicists. He is the 2013 recipient of the
Louis Nel Medal, European Geosciences Union and named an Einstein Chair Professor
of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He recently served on the National Academy of
Engineering committee investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident and the Secretary
of Energys committee on shale gas development and environmental protection. He
served on a Canadian Council of Academies panel investigating the same topic. Dr.
Zoback is currently serving on the National Academy of Sciences Advisory Board on
drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
Arjun H. Kohli, Graduate Teaching Assistant
Arjun H. Kohli is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geophysics at Stanford
and laboratory manager of the Stress and Crustal Mechanics Laboratory. Arjun conducts
research on fault mechanics and microstructure with applications to plate-boundary fault
zones, geothermal and petroleum reservoirs, and induced and triggered seismicity. He
completed a B.S. in Geology-Physics/Mathematics at Brown University in 2010 and was
awarded the Brown University Department of Geological Sciences Undergraduate
Research Award for his work on dynamic fault weakening mechanisms. In 2011, he
received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to investigate
controls on the transition from stable to dynamic fault slip with Dr. Zoback at Stanford.
Arjun is currently engaged in collaborative research with numerous partners including the
United States Geological Survey, University of Silesia, University of Minnesota, and
Stanford University Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences.