Subsidence Due to Hydrocarbon Production in the Netherlands

Chapter 2 summarizes the geological and geomechanical properties of hydrocarbon reservoirs in general, and specifically addresses the Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. Subsidence due to hydrocarbon production at ground level is dependent on the geometrical shape of the reservoir, the compaction coefficient, the thickness of the reservoir, the pressure drop in the reservoir, and the geomechanical behavior of the overburden. A review of subsidence prediction methodologies based on reservoir parameters and geomechanical properties is provided. Furthermore, geodetic measurement techniques to derive surface deformation at ground level and the corresponding subsidence estimation concepts, are addressed. Two types of deformation analysis are distinguished: point-wise multi-epoch and continuous spatio-temporal deformation analysis. Point-wise multi-epoch deformation analysis estimates deformation in time for each benchmark (measurement point) individually. Continuous spatio-temporal deformation analysis incorporates the spatio-temporal correlation of the signal of interest.