Identifying perforation locations for hydraulic fracturing treatment in deep and tight sandstone gas reservoirs

Abstract

Fracture initiation has been a challenging issue for fracturing deep and tight gas reservoirs, which generally requires a high breakdown pressure for hydraulic fracturing treatment. In this situation, fluid injections frequently have to terminate at the very beginning. Toward predicting and solving this issue, a novel fracturing system for deep and tight sandstone gas reservoirs was developed. The key components of the fracturing system and some criterion will be introduced, which can be used to optimize the ideal perforation locations along the landing part and select the right perforation strategy accordingly. The main components of the fracturing system include: (1) evaluating the log-based diagenetic rock typing and flow index; (2) 1D mechanical earth model; (3) calculating the breakdown pressure envelope along the well trajectory of the landing part; (4) calculating the optimal perforation directions along the landing part; (5) select the first set of perforation locations based on the log-based diagenetic rock typing and flow index; (6) narrowing down the first set of perforation locations to a second set of perforation locations based on the breakdown pressure envelope; (7) determining a perforation strategy based on breakdown pressure envelope and wellhead pressure safety limit in the second set of perforation locations. The computational framework to calculate the breakdown pressure envelope and optimal perforation directions is applicable to arbitrary well trajectory. The fracturing system has been used to provide pre-fracturing suggestions for wells landed in deep and tight sandstone reservoirs, which is very efficient for identifying locations with good rock typing and relatively low breakdown pressure. Also, it can indicate whether oriented perforation should be used further for alleviating breakdown issue. By taking these efforts and procedures, the fracturing success rate for deep and tight sandstone gas reservoirs can be improved, which has been verified in practice. Example studies from the field will be provided to demonstrate the fracturing system's performance and applicability.