Paleostress Reconstruction from 3D Seismic Data and Slip Tendency in the Northern Slope Area of the Bongor Basin, Southwestern Chad

Abstract

Paleostress plays a significant role in controlling the formation, accumulation, and distribution of reservoirs, and this could be an important factor in controlling the production of hydrocarbons from the unconventional reservoirs. In this study, we will use 3D seismic reflection data to perform the slip-tendency-based stress inversion to determine the stress field in the basement of the northern slope area in the Bongor Basin. The dataset for this technique is easily available in the oil and gas companies. The stress inversion results from the basement of the northern slope area of Bongor basin show that the maximum principal stress axis (σ1) is oriented vertically, the intermediate principal stress axis (σ2) is oriented N18 ̊ and the minimum principal stress axis (σ3) is oriented N105 ̊, and σ2/σ1 = 0.60 and σ3/σ1 = 0.29. The findings of this paper provide significant information to understand the fault reactivation at the critical stage of hydrocarbon accumulation and the regional tectonic evolution.