Frac Hit in Complex Tight Oil Reservoir in Ordos Basin: The Challenges, the Root Causes and the Cure

Abstract

Abstract Severe frac hit incidents were encountered during stimulating horizontal production wells in a pilot pad of a tight oil reservoir in Ordos basin. The reservoir is interbedded, highly heterogeneous both vertically and horizontally as result of gravity flow deposition. This raised a big concern on the stimulation treatment size and well spacing of the pad and further implication on the field development plan of the reservoir. A deep understanding of root causes and an effective frac hit prevention and mitigation strategy were much needed to address the problem. A multidisciplinary team was formed to investigate the problem. Initial analysis on the frac hit incidents showed that the frac hits were not correlated to well spacing, or stimulation volume as frac hits only occurred at certain stages out of those with the same stimulation volume or well spacing. Then the study turned the focus to investigating the problem from the geological and geomechanical perspective through leveraging a 3D high definition (HD) geological and geomechanical model. The detailed investigation revealed that the root causes of the frac hits were multiple folds: Existence of natural fracture corridors led to frac hit of wells in much longer distance.Alignment of hydraulic fractures among horizontal wells also increased the chance of frac hits as the result of alignment of perforations among horizontal wells.Asymmetrical propagation of hydraulic fracture (e.g., deviated to one side of horizontal laterals increased the chance of frac hit as the result of heterogeneous sand body and in-situ stress field.)Lack of vertical fracture containment resulted in the crossing-layer frac hits. With the good understanding of the root causes of frac hits, a frac hit risk map was generated based on the 3D HD geoscience model, which highlighted high frac risk zone in the pad. The frac hits observed from subsequent stimulations of the horizontal wells occurred only in the high frac hit risk zone, which validated the frac hit risk map. Based on the findings from the study, the frac hit prevention and mitigation strategy was developed.