Investigating the effect of pore pressure increase due to gas injection on the stability of normal faults in one of the SW Iranian oil fields

Decreasing reservoir pressure caused by hydrocarbon exploitation is one of the major problems related to oil reservoirs. In order to maintain the current production rate the lost energy should be compensated. Gas injection is a common method for increasing reservoir pressure and is mainly used in SW Iranian oil fields. Reactivation of pre-existing faults is one of the potential risks related to gas injection. In this study, using the analytical method of modified slip tendency, the reactivation possibility of four faults in an SW Iranian oil field has been investigated, and the critical pore pressure is estimated. Results suggest that all the faults are stable in the current stress field, and F2 is the most stable fault that can undergo a maximum pore pressure of 57 MPa before reactivation. Results of fracture stability analysis show that the highest increase in horizontal stress needed for reactivation is for F2. This means that faults with an east-west strike are more stable than the faults with a north east-south west strike in the field.