Analysis of Post-Fracturing Pressure Tests Helps Develop Tight Sands Reservoirs

Abstract

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 200206, “Lessons Learned From Recent Post-Fracturing Drawdown/Buildup Tests in Tight Sands Reservoirs,” by Ali Alshawaf, Mohammad Al Momen, SPE, and Ghaliah Khoja, SPE, Saudi Aramco, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Developing tight sandstone reservoirs across a vast area requires proper data collection and analysis. Because of the nature and heterogeneity of these reservoirs, several vertical and horizontal wells must be drilled and completed with multistage hydraulic fractures to assess their potential. An integrated work flow was developed to build a single-well model to predict the production, cumulative gas, and recovery factor for each well. The paper presents findings and key lessons learned to efficiently design pressure-buildup (PBU) tests in tight sandstone reservoirs. Motivations and Challenges of Drawdown/Buildup Tests in Tight Sands Pressure-transient analysis (PTA) can provide direct and accurate measurement of fracture and reservoir properties, flow regimes, and possible boundaries or faults away from the wellbore within the radius of investigation in conventional reservoirs. In tight sand reservoirs, a wide range of technical measurements is required, such as routine core analysis, log interpretation, diagnostic fracture injection tests (DFIT), post-fracture history matching, vertical lift, and infow performance matching to integrate all gathered data to support the technical understanding of the reservoir.