Hydraulic Fracturing of Ultrahigh Stress Tight Oil Reservoir - A Case Study of Yumen Oilfield in China

Abstract Pulse hydraulic fracturing is a promising stimulation technology to enhance the effectively permeability of coal seams. The fundamental of pulse hydraulic fracturing is that fracturing fluids with a certain frequency are injected into coal, resulting in the rupture of coal and forming a well-distributed fracture network due to the pulse loading. Better effects of gas extraction using pulse hydraulic fracturing had been gotten compared with that of hydraulic fracturing. Accordingly, how to apply pulse hydraulic fracturing technology to improve the fracturing effect of tight and shale reservoirs is a question worth thinking about, although this is very challenging due to the totally different downhole operating conditions. In this paper, experimental apparatus for fatigue damage of quasi-triaxial rock under alternating loads was established. The maximum injection pressure is 50MPa, while the pulse pressure amplitude is greater than 5MPa, and the pulse frequency is adjustable from 0 to 50Hz. Rock failure experiments under pulsating load were carried out and the effects of different hydraulic pulse parameters and rock properties on rock damage were studied. Experimental results show that hydraulic pulse has different effects on rock compressive strength and fracture pressure of different properties. With the increase of hydraulic pulse frequency, the influence on rock compressive strength increases firstly and then decreases. With the increase of pulse pressure amplitude, the influence on rock strength increases. With the increase of hydraulic pulse processing time, the influence on rock fracture pressure increases firstly and then tends to stabilize. Hydraulic pulse has the greatest influence on the compressive strength and fracture pressure of He 8 reservoir, followed by Chang 8 and Chang 6 reservoir of Changqing Oilfield in China. Based on the experimental results, hydraulic pulse frequency is preferred to be about 18-20Hz, accordingly, a downhole hydraulic pulse generator is designed and manufactured. The indoor test results show that the generator performance meets the design requirements. Field tests of pulse hydraulic fracturing were carried out in 3 wells in Changqing tight oil reservoir. Encouraging results were obtained, the average construction pressure was reduced obviously and average daily production per well increased significantly compared to adjacent wells.

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Spatiotemporal variations in seismic attenuation during hydraulic fracturing: A case study in a tight oil reservoir in the Ordos Basin, China

Geophysics ◽

10.1190/geo2021-0013.1 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-56

Author(s):

Han Li ◽

Xu Chang ◽

Xiao-Bi Xie ◽

Yibo Wang

Keyword(s):

Hydraulic Fracturing ◽

Ordos Basin ◽

Seismic Attenuation ◽

Tight Oil ◽

Oil Reservoir ◽

Spatiotemporal Variations ◽

Waveform Data ◽

Log Data ◽

The Ordos Basin ◽

Tight Oil Reservoir

During hydraulic fracturing (HF) stimulation for unconventional reservoir development, seismic attenuation has a significant influence on high-frequency microseismic data. Attenuation also provides important information for characterizing reservoir structure and changes to it due to HF injections. However, the attenuation effect is typically not considered in microseismic analysis. We have adopted the spectral ratio and centroid-frequency shift methods to estimate the subsurface attenuation (the factor Q−1) in a tight oil reservoir in the Ordos Basin, China. The P- and S-wave attenuations are calculated using the 3C waveform data recorded by a single-well downhole geophone array during a 12-stage HF stimulation. Both methods provide similar results (with differences in Q−1 of absolute values less than 0.010 for P- and S-waves). For individual events, their median Q−1 values calculated from different geophones are selected to represent the average attenuation. Spatiotemporal variations in attenuation are obtained by investigating Q−1 values along propagating rays linking different source-receiver pairs. The Q−1 values derived at different HF stages reveal significant attenuation in the targeted tight sandstone layer (0.030–0.062 for Q−1P and 0.026−0.058 for Q−1S), and the attenuation is apparently increased by fluid injection activities. We explain the sudden decrease in attenuation near the geophone array as a result of high shale content using log data from a horizontal treatment well. The consistency between the Q−1 values and horizontal well-log data, as well as the HF process, indicates the reliability and robustness of the attenuation results. By studying spatiotemporal variations in attenuation, the changes in subsurface structures may be quantitatively characterized, thereby creating a reliable basis for microseismic modeling and data processing and providing additional information on monitoring the HF process.

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