Geomechanical study of upper eocene of north Ceuta and area 2, block VII of Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela

This research aims to study the geomechanics of the Eocene in the upper Ceuta and northern area 2, block VII of Lake Maracaibo. In order to do this, the mechanical strength of the "B" and "C" sands from the Eocene Misoa Formation is characterized, a relation is established between the effective compressive strength (UCS), the reservoir pore pressure and the critical drawdown, the resistances to the effective compression by the rupture criteria: Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek- Brown are calculated, the magnitude of the maximum horizontal stress is calculated using three methodologies: Barton- Zoback, based on the widths of breakouts, theory of faulting by friction and azimuthal anisotropy contrast of the "S" shear wave. As results it was obtained that the "B" sands (B4 - B6) present greater resistance than the "C" sands (C1 - C4), the most representative maximum horizontal stress gradient is of 1.42 psi/ft using the Barton-Zoback methodology, the Mohr-Coulomb presented more optimistic results than the Hoek- Brown failure criterion. The vertical stress overload gradient is of 1,01 psi/ft, the minimum horizontal stress gradient was estimated at 1.08 psi/ft and the fracture gradient was estimated at 1,15 psi/ft. It was observed that the magnitude of the acting effective stresses varies with the reservoir pore pressure. Within the Ceuta field, the maximum horizontal stress direction for the "B" and "C" sands from the Misoa Formation is northwest southeast (NW-SE). According to the classification of the Anderson tectonic regimes (1951), the tectonic regime prevailing