Some rock mechanics issues in petroleum engineering

A brief discussion of some rock mechanics issues that arise in petroleum engineering is given, with an emphasis on new developments and unresolved questions. Four specific topics are addressed. The first is wellbore stability, with a focus on the use of true-triaxial failure criteria to model deviated boreholes. Next, two yet unresolved issues that arise in the modeling of fractured reservoirs are discussed, one related to the macroscopic permeability of the fracture system, and the other to flow interactions between the fractures and matrix blocks. Lastly, the equations of poroelasticity that govern the coupling between fluid flow and geomechanical processes are reviewed.