Application of 3-D Reservoir Simulator for Hydraulically Fractured Wells (SPE 110093)

The evaluation of hydrocarbon reservoirs often requires a reservoir simulation model. Historically, there have been two basic approaches used for modeling a hydraulic fracture in a 3-D reservoir simulator. In the first method, the hydraulic fracture was approximated with a negative skin or an increase in the effective wellbore radius. This approach was generally adequate for moderate to high permeability wells; however, it does not capture all the important physics of flow into and through the fracture. This limitation becomes even more critical in cases of multiphase flow, multi-layer reservoir and non-Darcy effects in the fracture. In the second method, the fracture was explicitly simulated in the reservoir model. In simple cases, this approach was practical even when the gridding was performed manually. Its main limitation was the gridding schemes that represent both the fracture and reservoir becoming complicated–especially for horizontal wells with multiple hydraulic fractures and multi-layer reservoirs.

In the past few years, with advanced computer technology, it became feasible to routinely run 3-D simulations of multiphase production from multi-layer reservoirs while explicitly modeling the hydraulic fracture in a reservoir simulator. Although such a technique is not new, the latest capability reported in this paper completely automates the process of setting up the grid and initializing the grid block properties for the fracture and reservoir. It automatically transfers the fracture properties such as geometry, permeability, porosity, filtrate fluid distribution and initial pressure distribution from the fracture growth simulator into the reservoir simulator, thus making the optimization of hydraulic fracturing both easier and more realistic.

This paper reviews the advantages of 3-D numerical simulation for hydraulically fractured wells. Field examples are presented to illustrate the application of this technology for production modeling and history matching complicated reservoir cases involving fracture stimulation.

Category 1: Fracpro
Sub Category 1: Application Examples

Paper Number: SPE 110093

Source: Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, 30 October-1 November 2007, Jakarta, Indonesia

URL: http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/app/Preview.do?paperNumber=SPE-110093-MS&societyCo...