A Novel Mathematical Model for Fracturing Effect Evaluation Based on Early Flowback Data in Shale Oil Reservoirs

Yuhan Wang,Erhui Luo,Xiaokun Zhang,Pengcheng Liu,Jie Liu,Zhengdong Lei,Yuqi Liu,Zhenhua Xu,Chenhao Sun

doi:10.1155/2021/1780937

Abstract

For shale oil reservoirs, the horizontal well multistage fracturing technique is mostly used to reform the reservoir in order to achieve economic and effective development. The size of the reservoir reconstruction volume and the quantitative characterization of the fracture system are of great significance to accurately predict the productivity of shale oil wells. There are few flowback models for shale oil reservoirs. To solve this problem, first, a physical model of the simultaneous production of oil, gas, and water in the early flowback stage of shale oil development is established using the material balance equation for a fracture system. Second, the physical model of the underground fracture system is simplified, which is approximately regarded as a thin cylindrical body with a circular section. The flow of the fluid in the fracture system is approximately regarded as radial flow. In this model, the expansion of the fluid and the closure of the fracture are defined as integrated storage coefficients to characterize the storage capacity of the fracture system. Then, the curves illustrating the relationships between the oil-water ratio and the cumulative oil production and between the gas-water ratio and the cumulative gas production are drawn, and the curves are used to divide the flowback stage into an early stage and a late stage because the flowback process of shale oil wells exhibits obvious stage characteristics. Finally, the reservoir reconstruction volume and the related hydraulic fracture parameters are estimated based on the material balance method, and the rationality of the model is verified via numerical simulation. The interpretation results of this novel model are more accurate, making it an effective way to evaluate the hydraulic fracture parameters and transformation effect, and it has guiding significance for the evaluation of the hydraulic fracturing effect in the field.

Highlights

In recent years, the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas resources, such as shale oil, have increased, and unconventional oil and gas resources with rich reserves have been discovered all over the world
We mainly rely on multistage hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells to form a complex fracture network in the reservoir and increase the effective drainage area in order to obtain industrial oil flow
Hydraulically fractured fractures are formed perpendicular to the horizontal wellbore, and a complex fracture network is formed through the connection of the natural fractures inside the reservoir with the hydraulically fractured fractures [9,10,11,12,13]

Summary

Introduction

The exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas resources, such as shale oil, have increased, and unconventional oil and gas resources with rich reserves have been discovered all over the world. Abbasi et al [26] proposed a single-phase rate transient analysis (RTA) model to analyze the water production data for hydraulic fractures and established a corresponding analytical mathematical model. Shale gas wells are usually in the stage of rapid gas-water two-phase coproduction in the early stage of flowback. A volumetric analysis of the water and gas production data was performed by dividing the shale gas well production data phases, and a method of estimating the effective fracture volume by modeling the fracture system based on the two-phase material balance equation was proposed. Unlike in previous studies, the development of the mathematical model considers the transition from single-phase flow to multiphase flow when the formation fluid breaks through the fracture (three phases of oil, gas, and water).

Mathematical Model

Region 1

Results and Discussion

Conclusions