Abstract
Commercial production from hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs with low permeability usually requires the use of horizontal well and hydraulic fracturing for the improvement of the fluid diffusivity in the matrix. The hydraulic fracturing process involves the injection of viscous fluid for fracture initiation and propagation, which alters the poroelastic behaviors in the formation and causes fracturing interference. Previous modeling studies usually focused on the effect of fracturing interference on the multicluster fracture geometry, while the related productivity of horizontal wells is not well studied. This study presents a modeling workflow that utilizes abundant field data including petrophysical, geomechanical, and hydraulic fracturing data. It is used for the quantification of fracturing interference and its correlation with horizontal well productivity. It involves finite element and finite difference methods in the numeralization of the fracture propagation mechanism and porous media flow problems. Planar multistage fractures and their resultant horizontal productivity are quantified through the modeling workflow. Results show that the smaller numbers of clusters per stage, closer stage spacings, and lower fracturing fluid injection rates facilitate even growth of fractures in clusters and stages and reduce fracturing interference. Fracturing modeling results are generally correlated with productivity modeling results, while scenarios with stronger fracturing interference and greater stimulation volume/area can still yield better productivity. This study establishes the quantitative correlation between fracturing interference and horizontal well productivity. It provides insights into the prediction of horizontal well productivity based on fracturing design parameters.
Highlights
Wells in low permeability reservoirs bearing hydrocarbons typically have low productivity as it is hard for hydrocarbons to efficiently flow
Due to the stress changes induced by hydraulic fracture initiation and propagation, multistage and multicluster hydraulic fracturing is affected by stress interference, and the geometry of the fracture network can be negatively impacted
The interstage stress interference is the most significant in the 4-cluster scenario, as the second and third stages have lower fracture lengths. These results show that the interstage interference on hydraulic fracturing interference increases with the cluster number in each stage
Summary
Wells in low permeability reservoirs bearing hydrocarbons typically have low productivity as it is hard for hydrocarbons to efficiently flow. Horizontal wells and hydraulic fractures are often used to enhance the contact between the wellbore and the matrix [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Since multistage and multicluster hydraulic fracturing facilitates the establishment of complex fracture networks, this type of fracturing technique is widely used in the development of unconventional reservoirs such as shale oil reservoirs [7,8,9]. As fracture quality is directly related to horizontal well productivity, it is meaningful to quantitatively understand the relationship between hydraulic fracturing stress interference and horizontal well productivity. In order to quantify the relationship between stress interference in hydraulic fracturing and the production
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