Fracture Modeling of Shale Oil and Gas Reservoirs in Texas
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Multistage Fracturing of Horizontal Wells
2.1. Horizontal Well Descriptions
2.2. Multistage Fracturing
2.3. Multistage Fracturing Mechanics
2.4. Conventional Multistage Fracture Completion Techniques
2.5. Multistage Horizontal Completion Innovations and Optimizations
2.6. Typical Multistage Fracture Treatment Parameters
Base Fluid | Fluid Type | Main Composition |
---|---|---|
Water-based | Slickwater | Water + sand (+ chemical additives) |
Linear fluids | Gelled water, GUAR < HPG, HEC, CMHPG | |
Crosslinked fluids | Crosslinker + GUAR, HPG, CMHPG, CMHEC | |
Viscoelastic surfactant gel fluids | Electrolite + surfactant | |
Foam-based | Water-based foam | Water and foamer + N2 or CO2 |
Acid-based foam | Acid and foamer + N2 | |
Alcohol-based foam | Methanol and foamer + N2 | |
Oil-based | Linear fluids | Oil, gelled oil |
Crosslinked fluids | Phosphate ester gels | |
Water Emulsion | Water + oil + emulsifiers | |
Acid-based | Linear fluids | - |
Crosslinked fluids | - | |
Oil Emulsion | - | |
Alcohol-based | Methanol/water mixes or 100% methanol | Methanol + water |
Emulsion-based | Water–oil emulsions | Water + oil |
CO2–methanol | CO2 + water + methanol | |
Others | - | |
Other fluids | Liquid CO2 | CO2 |
Liquid nitrogen | N2 | |
Liquid helium | He | |
Liquid natural gas | LPG (butane and propane) |
Base Fluid | Pros and Cons |
---|---|
Water-based | Most cost-effective and available, incombustible, simplest viscosity control. Not suitable for water-sensitive formation, water trapping, less capability of proppant transport of slickwater |
Foam-based | Reduction in water usage, additives, and formation damage; better residual cleanup; high viscosity and proppant transport capability. High costs, rheological uncertainty, and the need for higher pumping rates |
Oil-based | Compatible with almost any formation type. Potential high cost and concerns with safety and environmental effects |
Acid-based | Needs continuous carbonate/limestone phases to etch, and disposal of solutes, short fractures due to high leakoff and rapid acid reaction |
Alcohol-based | Potential to decrease water trapping, compatible with water-sensitive formations, and stabilizes temperature. Flammable, expensive, extra spending with personnel training, easy to degrade |
Emulsion-based | Similar to foam-based fluids and depends on oil or water external emulsion |
Other fluids | Provide substantial energy to recover fluids, which is suitable for low bottom-hole pressure formations, and less water to alleviate damage to water-sensitive formations; reduce the proppant amount, high costs |
3. Fracture Modeling and Simulation
3.1. Fracture Propagation Modeling
3.2. Fracturing Flowback
3.3. Commercial Software Simulators
4. Refracturing
5. The Practice of Formation Fracturing
6. Fracture Diagnostic Techniques
7. Advances in Fracture Modeling
7.1. Black-Box Fast Multipole Method
7.2. Progressive Nonintrusive Theory of Fracture Proppant Flow
7.3. Plasma Fracturing
7.4. Data Analytics Approach
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Shale Play | Resource Type | Depth/Thickness (ft) | Porosity (%) | Well Spacing (wells/mile2) | Estimated Ultimate Recovery (Bcf or Mbbl/well) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marcellus | Shale Gas | 6250/125 | 8 | 8 | 3.5 |
Haynesville | Shale Gas | 12,000/250 | 8.5 | 8 | 6.5 |
Eagle Ford | Shale Gas/Condensate Gas/Oil | 7000/200 | 9 | 4/8/5 | 5.5/4.5/300 |
Fayetteville | Shale Gas | 4000/110 | 5 | 8 | 1.7 |
Woodford | Shale Gas | 7250/200 | 6.5 | 4 | 2.5 |
Barnett | Shale Gas | 7500/300 | 5 | 5.5 | 1.6 |
Bakken | Shale Oil | 6000/22 | 8 | 1 | 550 |
Basin | Lateral Length (ft) | Stage Number | Stage Length (ft) | Distance Between Stages (ft) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Marcellus | 3115 | 10.0 | 308 | 66 |
Haynesville | 4025 | 10.2 | 394 | 83 |
Eagle Ford | 2176 | 11.8 | 180 | 100 |
Fayetteville | 2903 | 7.1 | 412 | 111 |
Woodford | 3090 | 6.1 | 528 | 166 |
Barnett | 2422 | 5.6 | 476 | 217 |
Basin | Average Fluid Per Stage (bbl) | Total Fluid Pumped (bbl) | Average Proppant Per Stage (lbs) | Average Amount of Additives (lbs) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Biocide | Crosslinker | Friction Reducer | Gelling Agent | Surfactant | ||||
Marcellus | 29,732 | 248,107 | 670,330 | 14,854 | 5189 | 50,331 | 30,826 | 20,290 |
Haynesville | 328,339 | 370,882 | 12,834,790 | 49,664 | 20,607 | 83,635 | 118,404 | 27,875 |
Eagle Ford | 170,273 | 218,868 | 7,173,980 | 13,135 | 26,887 | 25,839 | 137,226 | 75,697 |
Fayetteville | - | 122,340 | - | 10,116 | 2703 | 19,479 | 4739 | 14,507 |
Woodford | 121,190 | 158,526 | 3,054,664 | 1,614,030 | 580 | 28,648 | 68,821 | 29,093 |
Barnett | 54,689 | 92,923 | 1,856,592 | 24,717 | 2073 | 12,927 | 22,479 | 52,082 |
Company | Software | Model | Reservoir Simulation | Multiple HFs | Natural Fractures | MS Input | Synthetic MS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Baker Hughes | MFrac | P3D/PL3D | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Mshale | DFN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Golder Associates | FracMan | DFN | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Schlumberger | Kinetix | PL3D/UFM | ✓ | ✓ | UFM ✓ | ✓ | |
FracCAD | P3D (cell) | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
Barree & Associates LLC, Halliburton | GOHFER | PL3D | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
NSI Technologies | StimPlan | PL3D | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
Carbo Ceramics | FracPro | P3D (lump) /PL3D | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
FrackOptima | FackOptima | Full 3D/PL3D | ✓ | ✓ | |||
ResFrac | ResFrac | PL3D | ✓ | ✓ |
Rickman et al. [112,113,115] | |||
Fuling shale gas field of the Jiaoshiba Block in China [113], North Perth Basin shale gas reservoirs in Australia [116], Permian Basin Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations [117], Wise and Denton Counties of Barnett Shale [118]. | |||
Jarvie et al. [119] | |||
Fort Worth Basin Barnett Shale Newark East gas field [119]. | |||
Wang and Gale [120] | |||
North Perth Basin shale gas reservoirs in Australia [116], Permian Basin Spraberry and Wolfcamp formations [117]. | |||
Altindag [121] | |||
New South Wales coal and Amasra Coalfield rock [121]. | |||
Jin et al. [115] | |||
Barnett Shale [115], Woodford Shaleand Eagle Ford Shale [122]. | |||
Alzahabi [110] | |||
Permian Shale Wolfcamp [123]. |
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Gao, S.; Ali, S.M.F.; Soliman, M.Y. Fracture Modeling of Shale Oil and Gas Reservoirs in Texas. Energies 2023, 16, 6265. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176265
Gao S, Ali SMF, Soliman MY. Fracture Modeling of Shale Oil and Gas Reservoirs in Texas. Energies. 2023; 16(17):6265. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176265
Chicago/Turabian StyleGao, Shihui, Syed M. Farouq Ali, and Mohamed Y. Soliman. 2023. "Fracture Modeling of Shale Oil and Gas Reservoirs in Texas" Energies 16, no. 17: 6265. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176265