Effect of hydraulic fracturing induced stress field on weak surface activation during unconventional reservoir development

Abstract

Unconventional reservoirs usually contain many weak surfaces such as faults, laminae and natural fractures, and effective activation and utilization of these weak surfaces in reservoirs can significantly improve the extraction effect. In hydraulic fracturing, when the artificial fracture approaches the natural fracture, the natural fracture would be influenced by both the original in-situ stress field and the hydraulic fracturing-induced stress field. In this paper, the hydraulic fracturing-induced stress field is calculated based on the relative position of hydraulic fracture and natural fracture, the original in-situ stress, the net pressure inside the hydraulic fracture and the pore pressure of the formation. Furthermore, the stability model of the natural fracture is established by combining the Mohr-Coulomb rupture criterion, and extensive parametric studies are conducted to explore the impact of each parameter on the stability of the natural fracture. The validity of the proposed model is verified by comparing with the reservoir characteristics and fracturing process of the X-well 150–155 formation in the Songliao Basin. It is found that the stress field induced by the hydraulic fracture inhibits the activation of the natural fracture after the artificial fracture crossed the natural fracture. Therefore, for similar reservoirs as X-well 150–155, it is suggested to connect natural fractures with hydraulic fractures first and then activate natural fractures which can effectively utilize the natural fractures and form a complex fracture network.