A Comparison of Hydraulic Fracture Propagation and Well Productivity Using Different Energized Fracturing Fluids

TitleA Comparison of Hydraulic Fracture Propagation and Well Productivity Using Different Energized Fracturing Fluids
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2020
AuthorsZheng, S., and M. M. Sharma
Conference Name54th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium
Date Published06/2020
PublisherAmerican Rock Mechanics Association
ISBN Number978-0-9794975-5-1
Other NumbersARMA-2020-1239
Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing is a necessary process in order to produce oil and gas from tight reservoirs. Slick water is the most commonly used fracturing fluid whereas other fracturing fluids such as gel, gas, foam and hybrid fluids are much less common. In this paper, we evaluate the efficiency of different fracturing fluids on hydraulic fracturing by simulating hydraulic fracture propagation and primary production using a fully integrated Equation-of-State compositional hydraulic fracturing and reservoir simulator. Fracture geometry, proppant placement, and well productivity for fracturing using different fracturing fluids are simulated and analyzed. It is found that different fracturing fluids will result in very different fracture geometry, sand placement, and oil/gas/water production. The hydraulic fracturing treatment and production are both completed in one simulation. This ensures that no data or physics is lost when moving from a hydraulic fracturing simulation to a reservoir simulation using two different software. This is the first time that a single equation-of-state compositional geomechanical fracturing and reservoir simulator is developed and applied for well lifecycle simulation using different kinds of fracturing fluids. 1. INTRODUCTION Hydraulic fracturing plays a key role in unlocking the oil and gas resources from tight formations. Different kinds of fracturing fluids have been developed and used in the past and more than one fracturing fluid can sometimes be used for different purposes, e.g., fracture initiation, sand transport, and flushing. Most existing hydraulic fracturing simulators assume single phase flow and cannot model different fracturing fluids (Wu and Olson, 2015; Settgast et al., 2017; Ouchi et al., 2017; Shrivastava and Sharma, 2018). For well productivity evaluation, one has to export the fracture geometry to other reservoir simulators, during which important information such as proppant distribution and fracture width may be lost. EFrac-3D models fracture propagation using different fracturing fluids for example, slick water, gel, gas, and foam; however, the fracture modeling is limited to single fracture propagation and a simple well productivity model is used (Ribeiro 2013). In this paper, we introduce an integrated fracturing and reservoir simulator and apply it to study fracture propagation and the well productivity using different kinds of energized fracturing fluids.