Pressure transient analysis of a horizontal well intercepted by multiple hydraulic fractures in heterogeneous reservoir with multiple connected regions using boundary element method

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to establish a new general model framework considering both hydraulic fractures with finite conductivity and heterogeneous characteristics of multiple connected regions by using boundary element method. With this framework, we can calculate the pressure performance of any heterogeneous reservoir. The innovation is that the complex fracture flow, boundary shape and heterogeneous characteristics can be flexibly considered in the model. Transient pressure of fractured horizontal wells in heterogeneous reservoir is obtained by using Stehfest numerical inversion method. Subsequently, this proposed regional heterogeneity model was validated by using numerical simulation methods. The results show that the proposed heterogeneous model can be divided into five flow segments, which are bilinear flow, linear flow, radial flow, first boundary dominated flow and second boundary dominated flow. However, the research results show that the presence or absence of some flow sections is closely related to the regional permeability ratio and the regional storage capacity ratio. As the two most important parameters of heterogeneous reservoir, the permeability ratio and regional storage capacity of heterogeneous reservoir will have a huge impact on the pressure response and pressure field. The sensitivity analysis shows that these two factors will lead to the deformation of the pressure field distribution and affect the flow characteristics, and cause some flow segments to fail to appear. The smaller the regional storage capacity ratio, the deeper the V-shape, and the more fluid supplied from the outer zone to the inner zone. This study also suggests that the fracture conductivity mainly affects the early flow characteristics, and the smaller the conductivity, the greater the pressure loss. In addition, irregular boundary will also cause important deformation of pressure field, and the area size will affect the late flow characteristics, and the smaller the area, the greater the pressure loss. The new semi-analytical solutions can form a series of typical curves and be applied to the well test analysis of multi-stage fracturing horizontal wells in heterogeneous and unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the influence of reservoir heterogeneity on pressure response and find some applications in well testing for inverse problems in heterogeneous reservoirs.