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The Keshen Reservoir is a naturally fractured, deep, tight sandstone gas reservoir under high tectonic stress. Because the reservoir matrix is very tight, the natural-fracture system is the main pathway for gas production. Meanwhile, stimulation is still required for most production wells to provide production rates that sufficiently compensate for the high cost of drilling and completing wells to access this deep reservoir. Large depletion (and related stress change) was expected during the course of the production of the field. The dynamic response of the reservoir and related risks, such as reduction of fracture conductivity, fault reactivation, and casing failure, would compromise the long-term productivity of the reservoir. To quantify the dynamic response of the reservoir and related risks, a 4D reservoir/geomechanics simulation was conducted for Keshen Reservoir by following an integrated work flow. The work started from systematic laboratory fracture-conductivity tests performed with fractured cores to measure conductivity vs. confining stress for both natural fractures and hydraulic fractures (with proppant placed in the fractures of the core samples). Natural-fracture modeling was conducted to generate a discrete-fracture network (DFN) to delineate spatial distribution of the natural-fracture system. In addition, hydraulic-fracture modeling was conducted to delineate the geometry of the hydraulic-fracture system for the stimulated wells. Then, a 3D geomechanical model was constructed by integrating geological, petrophysical, and geomechanical data, and both the DFN and hydraulic-fracture system were incorporated into the 3D geomechanical model. A 4D reservoir/geomechanics simulation was conducted through coupling with a reservoir simulator to predict variations of stress and strain of rock matrix as well as natural fractures and hydraulic fractures during field production. At each study-well location, a near-wellbore model was extracted from the full-field model, and casing and cement were installed to evaluate well integrity during production. The 4D reservoir/geomechanics simulation revealed that there would be a large reduction of conductivity for both natural fractures and hydraulic fractures, and some fractures with certain dip/dip azimuth will be reactivated during the course of field production. The induced-stress change will also compromise well integrity for those poorly cemented wellbores. The field-development plan must consider all these risks to ensure sustainable long-term production. The paper presents a 4D coupled geomechanics/reservoir-simulation study applied to a high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) naturally fractured reservoir, which has rarely been published previously. The study adapted several new techniques to quantify the mechanical response of both natural fractures and hydraulic fractures, such as using laboratory tests to measure stress sensitivity of natural fractures, integrating DFN and hydraulic-fracture systems into 4D geomechanics simulation, and evaluating well integrity on both the reservoir scale and the near-wellbore scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miscanthus floridulus is a metallophyte suitable for the phytoremediation of mine wastes due to high biomass and tolerant to multiple metals. The physio-biochemical response of M. floridulus to copper stress was studied by pot experiments. Our results suggested that M. floridulus could grow in soils containing high level of copper (Cu), i.e. 200 mg. kg-1. Cu concentrations below 100 mg. kg-1 did not cause any visible injury to the leaves of M. floridulus, and 200 mg. kg-1 of Cu only caused slight foliar chlorosis. Cu concentrations below 200 mg. kg-1 decreased soluble sugar content in M. floridulus but higher Cu concentrations (> 500 mg. kg-1) had the contrary effect. Both MDA content and O2· generation rate in M. floridulus leaves remained unchanged when Cu concentrations were below 200 mgk. kg-1. The activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxidase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) increased when Cu concentration was 100 mg. kg-1, but they were decreased to the levels similar to those of control groups when Cu concentration was approaching to 200 mg. kg-1. At high Cu concentration, i.e. above 500 mg. kg-1, lipid peroxidation was enhanced, O2· generation was accelerated and the antioxidative system of M. floridulus was damaged. In summary, M. floridulus is tolerant to Cu stress and has a potential for the phytoremediation of Cu-contaminated soils. M. floridulus synthesize more soluble sugar to enhance the lignification/suberization of cell wall so as to inhibit the entry of heavy metals into the endoplast, and the antioxidant enzyme system was also enhanced to quench the resulting oxidative stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]