Practical methods for estimating in situ stresses for borehole stability applications in sedimentary basins

In order to predict whether the walls of a proposed well will be stable or will spall, it is necessary to specify the far field in situ stresses that will be experienced by the wellbore. This article does not pretend to describe optimal stress measurement methods, or techniques for extracting information from inclined wells. Instead, it outlines how to estimate stress orientations and magnitudes with average data suites and it alludes to mapping applications. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.