Hydraulic Fracture Monitoring to Reservoir Simulation: Maximizing Value

Abstract

The integration of microseismic measurements with complex fracture models can provide a much-needed constraint to the interpretation of complex fracture growth. With this constraint we now have a means to include fracture propagation and mass balance into the microseismic to reservoir simulation workflow. In addition, the introduction of complex hydraulic fracture models provides a much more quantitative method to improve fracture treatment designs and completion strategies. The application of complex fracture models is in its infancy and there is still an enormous learning curve before the models can be routinely used to make reliable decisions. However, complex fracture models, when combined with geomechanical models, microseismic measurements, and reservoir simulation can provide a more reliable evaluation of hydraulic fracture characteristics than previously possible. Microseismic data also provides a constraint for subsequent production modeling. This constraint comes in a number of forms, including characterization of natural fractures, calibrating complex hydraulic fracture models, and providing a bound for the reservoir volume contacted by the hydraulic fracture. With a more reliable estimate of the fracture network properties and a calibrated complex fracture model, treatment designs can be improved more systematically, reducing the trial-and-error empirical approach currently employed in shale-gas development.