A boundary element solution to land subsidence above 3-D gas/ oil reservoirs

A linear boundary element (BE) model is proposed for the uncoupled simulation of land subsidence due to gas, oil and hot water production over 3-D arbitrarily shaped reservoirs. The present model is based on the theory of the linear poroelasticity and is implemented for a mechanically homogeneous and isotropic half- space. It allows for any arbitrary geometry of the reservoir and for a non-uniform distribution of the pore pressure decline. It may easily be extended to other physical settings for which a vertical surface point load solution is available.-from Authors