Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing on Productivity of Gas Condensate Wells

Abstract

Having an increase in the discovery of gas reservoirs all over the world, the most common problem related to gas condensate wells while producing below dew point condition is condensate banking. As the bottom hole pressure drops below the dew point, the liquid starts to exist and condensate begins to accumulate. Relative permeability of gas will be reduced as well as the well productivity will start to decline. The effect of applying a hydraulic fracture to gas condensate wells is the main objective of this paper. A compositional simulator is utilized to investigate the physical modifications that could happen to gas and condensate during the production life of an arbitrary well. Performing a good designed hydraulic fracture to a gas condensate well typically enhances the production of such well. This increase depends basically on certain factors such as non-Darcy flow, capillary number and capillary pressure. Non-Darcy flow has a dominant impact on gas and condensate productivity index after performing a hydraulic fracture as the simulator indicates. The enhancement of gas and condensate production can be obtained for gas condensate reservoirs in which the reservoir pressure is above or around the dew point pressure to have a margin for the pressure to decline with time and also eliminate the probability of forming condensate in the reservoir. On the other hand if the reservoir pressure is below the dew point pressure, there will be definitely a condensate in the reservoir and a specific design for the hydraulic fracture is a must to get the required enhancement in the production.