Abstract
Horizontal wells with multiple hydraulic fractures have become a common occurrence in the oil and gas industry, especially in tight formations. Published models assume that hydraulic fractures are fully penetrating the formations. However, studies have shown that fractures are not always fully penetrating the formations. This paper introduces a new technique for analyzing the pressure behavior of a horizontal well with multiple vertical and inclined partially penetrating hydraulic fractures. The hydraulic fractures in this model could be longitudinal or transverse, vertical or inclined, symmetrical or asymmetrical. The fractures are propagated in isotropic or anisotropic formations and considered having different dimensions and different spacing. This technique, based on pressure and pressure derivative concept, can be used to calculate various reservoir parameters, including directional permeability, fracture length and percentage of penetration. The study has shown that the pressure behavior of small penetration rate is similar to the horizontal wells without hydraulic fractures. A type curve matching technique has been applied using the plots of the pressure and pressure derivative curves. A set of type curves, which will be included in the paper, have been generated for the partially penetrating hydraulic fractures associated to the horizontal wells with different penetration rates. A step-by-step procedure for analyzing pressure tests using these type curves is also included in the paper for several numerical examples.
Highlights
Several factors control the final output of the hydraulic fracturing process
This paper introduces a new technique for analyzing the pressure behavior of a horizontal well with multiple vertical and inclined partially penetrating hydraulic fractures
1) An early radial flow regime is expected to be noticed for the case of the partially penetrating hydraulic fractures where the fluid flows radially in the parallel plane to the wellbore toward each individual fracture
Summary
Several factors control the final output of the hydraulic fracturing process. Fracture dimensions (half fracture length, fracture width, and fracture height) are of great importance in the performance as are the orientation of the fractures as well as the rock and fluid properties. Raghavan et al (1978) were the first presented an analytical model that examines the effect of the fracture height on the pressure behavior of single vertical fracture Their model was derived based on the solution technique presented by Gringarten and Ramey (1973). Rodriguez and Cinco-Ley (1984) developed semi-analytical solution for the transient flow behavior of a reservoir with a well intersecting a partially-penetrating single vertical fracture of both finite and infinite conductivity cases. Alpheous and Tiab (2008) studied the effect of the partial penetrating infinite conductivity hydraulic fractures on the pressure behavior of horizontal well extending in naturally fractured formation. They stated that the duration of early linear flow regime is a function of the hydraulic fractures height
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