Tiltmeter Hydraulic Fracturing Mapping on a Cluster of Horizontal Wells in a Tight Gas Reservoir

Abstract Reservoir development in Safa Formation requires a lot of vertical wells in order to exploit the gas reserve in the formation which means high cost is needed because the heterogeneity in the formation is noticed due to sandstone is pinched out in different locations of the reservoir. So, vertical well may be sweep from limited area of the reservoir that make safa formation has less priority for new activities. Form all of that the plan was drilling horizontal wells with long horizontal section to recover great volume of gas from reservoir. In addition to reduction in number of drilling vertical wells in the reservoir. In contrast, the major constrains is the small thickness of reservoir that make drilling horizontal section is very difficult. The main characteristics of safa formation is non continuous sandstone in the whole reservoir with great heterogeneity that not controlled by any points in the reservoir for the distribution of sandstone. In addition, there are a lot of locations in safa formation that include lean intervals which have kaolinite, elite that are not capable for produce from sand. In other hand, there is another constrains beside the discontinuity of sand production is the heterogeneity of permeability properties of reservoir that change in wide range across the reservoir with minimum range of 0.01 md and increase in some locations to reach 100 md. From all of the previous, it is a big challenge in drilling horizontal wells with long horizontal section in thin reservoir thickness in order to access the best reservoir permeability and optimize the number of drilling wells based on this concept. This paper will discuss case study of unlock and development long horizontal section in gas reservoir characterized by its tightness. The main goal of this horizontal well to recover ultimate gas reserve from safa formation by horizontal section reached to 2000 meter with a challenge because it is abnormal to drill this large horizontal section in western desert of Egypt in reservoir thickness range from 5 meter to 30 meter as prognosis from other offset wells in case of there is no pitchout of the sandstone. After Drilling of first horizontal well, the results were unexpected because the well penetrates a large horizontal section of sandstone in safa formation. This section reached to around 1750 meter with average reservoir permeability between 10 – 20 md and the reservoir porosity about 13% with good hydrocarbon saturation that changes along this section from 75% to 80%. So, this well put on production with very stable gas production rate 20 MMSCFD. In this paper will discuss in details the different challenge that faced to unlock this tight gas reservoir and will discuss the performance of horizontal well production. In this paper will discuss the first horizontal well in safa formation and the longest horizontal section in western desert of Egypt in tight gas formation that has a lot of challenges and risks are faced. After success the concept of horizontal well in heterogeneous reservoir, the next plan is the development of this reservoir using several horizontal wells to recover the ultimate recovery of gas from safa formation.

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A Model for Gas Deliverability from Fractured Horizontal Wells in a Tight Gas Reservoir

Energy Sources Part A Recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects ◽

10.1080/15567036.2011.609870 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 36 (7) ◽

pp. 738-746 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

M. Y. Xu ◽

X. W. Liao ◽

Y. F. He ◽

H. M. Liao

Keyword(s):

Horizontal Wells ◽

Tight Gas ◽

Gas Reservoir ◽

Tight Gas Reservoir ◽

Fractured Horizontal Wells

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Multiphase Multicomponent Numerical Modeling for Hydraulic Fracturing with N-Heptane for Efficient Stimulation in a Tight Gas Reservoir of Germany

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14113111 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (11) ◽

pp. 3111

Author(s):

Faisal Mehmood ◽

Michael Z. Hou ◽

Jianxing Liao ◽

Muhammad Haris ◽

Cheng Cao ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Fracturing ◽

Gas Production ◽

Real Field ◽

Fluid Viscosity ◽

Tight Gas ◽

Gas Reservoir ◽

Hydraulic Stimulation ◽

Fracture Closure ◽

Tight Gas Reservoir ◽

Water Based

Conventionally, high-pressure water-based fluids have been injected for hydraulic stimulation of unconventional petroleum resources such as tight gas reservoirs. Apart from improving productivity, water-based frac-fluids have caused environmental and technical issues. As a result, much of the interest has shifted towards alternative frac-fluids. In this regard, n-heptane, as an alternative frac-fluid, is proposed. It necessitates the development of a multi-phase and multi-component (MM) numerical simulator for hydraulic fracturing. Therefore fracture, MM fluid flow, and proppant transport models are implemented in a thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled FLAC3D-TMVOCMP framework. After verification, the model is applied to a real field case study for optimization of wellbore x in a tight gas reservoir using n-heptane as the frac-fluid. Sensitivity analysis is carried out to investigate the effect of important parameters, such as fluid viscosity, injection rate, reservoir permeability etc., on fracture geometry with the proposed fluid. The quicker fracture closure and flowback of n-heptane compared to water-based fluid is advantageous for better proppant placement, especially in the upper half of the fracture and the early start of natural gas production in tight reservoirs. Finally, fracture designs with a minimum dimensionless conductivity of 30 are proposed.

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