| Abstract: | Reservoir reconstructions implemented in unconventional oil and gas exploration usually adopt hydraulic fracturing techniques to inject high-pressure fluid into the reservoir and change its pore-fracture connection structure to enhance production. Hydraulic fracturing changes the reservoir stress and causes the rocks to crack, thus generating microseismic events.One important component of microseismic research is the source mechanism inversion. Through the research on the microseismic focal mechanism, information on the source mechanisms and in-situ stress status variations can be quantitatively revealed to effectively optimize the reservoir reconstruction design for increasing production. This paper reviews the recent progress in hydraulic fracturing induced microseismic focal mechanism research. We summarize their main principles and provide a detailed introduction of the research advances in source modeling, microseismic data synthesis, and focal mechanism inversion. We also discuss the challenges and limitations in the current microseismic focal mechanism research and propose prospects for future research ideas and directions. |
