Production Performance in Marcellus Shale: Multidisciplinary Study of Hydraulic Fracturing

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghazal Izadi ◽  
Jean-Philippe Junca ◽  
Randall Cade ◽  
Thomas Rowan
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Marcellus Shale ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Multidisciplinary Study

Impact of the Cluster Spacing on Hydraulic Fracture Conductivity and Productivity of a Marcellus Shale Horizontal Well

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed El Sgher ◽  
Kashy Aminian ◽  
Ameri Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Marcellus Shale ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Fracture Properties ◽  
Gas Recovery ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the hydraulic fracturing treatment design, including cluster spacing and fracturing fluid volume on the hydraulic fracture properties and consequently, the productivity of a horizontal Marcellus Shale well with multi-stage fractures. The availability of a significant amount of advanced technical information from the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory (MSEEL) provided an opportunity to perform an integrated analysis to gain valuable insight into optimizing fracturing treatment and the gas recovery from Marcellus shale. The available technical information from a horizontal well at MSEEL includes well logs, image logs (both vertical and lateral), diagnostic fracture injection test (DFIT), fracturing treatment data, microseismic recording during the fracturing treatment, production logging data, and production data. The analysis of core data, image logs, and DFIT provided the necessary data for accurate prediction of the hydraulic fracture properties and confirmed the presence and distribution of natural fractures (fissures) in the formation. Furthermore, the results of the microseismic interpretation were utilized to adjust the stress conditions in the adjacent layers. The predicted hydraulic fracture properties were then imported into a reservoir simulation model, developed based on the Marcellus Shale properties, to predict the production performance of the well. Marcellus Shale properties, including porosity, permeability, adsorption characteristics, were obtained from the measurements on the core plugs and the well log data. The Quanta Geo borehole image log from the lateral section of the well was utilized to estimate the fissure distribution s in the shale. The measured and published data were utilized to develop the geomechnical factors to account for the hydraulic fracture conductivity and the formation (matrix and fissure) permeability impairments caused by the reservoir pressure depletion during the production. Stress shadowing and the geomechanical factors were found to play major roles in production performance. Their inclusion in the reservoir model provided a close agreement with the actual production performance of the well. The impact of stress shadowing is significant for Marcellus shale because of the low in-situ stress contrast between the pay zone and the adjacent zones. Stress shadowing appears to have a significant impact on hydraulic fracture properties and as result on the production during the early stages. The geomechanical factors, caused by the net stress changes have a more significant impact on the production during later stages. The cumulative gas production was found to increase as the cluster spacing was decreased (larger number of clusters). At the same time, the stress shadowing caused by the closer cluster spacing resulted in a lower fracture conductivity which in turn diminished the increase in gas production. However, the total fracture volume has more of an impact than the fracture conductivity on gas recovery. The analysis provided valuable insight for optimizing the cluster spacing and the gas recovery from Marcellus shale.

Advanced Multi-Disciplinary Simulation Workflow for Well Placement, Hydraulic Fracturing and Production Optimization Applied to the Diyab Unconventional Play in Onshore UAE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Pourpak ◽  
Samuel Taubert ◽  
Marios Theodorakopoulos ◽  
Arnaud Lefebvre-Prudencio ◽  
Chay Pointer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Reservoir Characterization ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Production Optimization ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Well Placement ◽  
Fully Integrated ◽  
Sector Model ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Diyab play is an emerging unconventional play in the Middle East. Up to date, reservoir characterization assessments have proved adequate productivity of the play in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In this paper, an advanced simulation and modeling workflow is presented, which was applied on selected wells located on an appraisal area, by integrating geological, geomechanical, and hydraulic fracturing data. Results will be used to optimize future well landing points, well spacing and completion designs, allowing to enhance the Stimulated Rock Volume (SRV) and its consequent production. A 3D static model was built, by propagating across the appraisal area, all subsurface static properties from core-calibrated petrophysical and geomechanical logs which originate from vertical pilot wells. In addition, a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) derived from numerous image logs was imported in the model. Afterwards, completion data from one multi-stage hydraulically fracked horizontal well was integrated into the sector model. Simulations of hydraulic fracturing were performed and the sector model was calibrated to the real hydraulic fracturing data. Different scenarios for the fracture height were tested considering uncertainties related to the fracture barriers. This has allowed for a better understanding of the fracture propagation and SRV creation in the reservoir at the main target. In the last step, production resulting from the SRV was simulated and calibrated to the field data. In the end, the calibrated parameters were applied to the newly drilled nearby horizontal wells in the same area, while they were hydraulically fractured with different completion designs and the simulated SRVs of the new wells were then compared with the one calculated on the previous well. Applying a fully-integrated geology, geomechanics, completion and production workflow has helped us to understand the impact of geology, natural fractures, rock mechanical properties and stress regimes in the SRV geometry for the unconventional Diyab play. This work also highlights the importance of data acquisition, reservoir characterization and of SRV simulation calibration processes. This fully integrated workflow will allow for an optimized completion strategy, well landing and spacing for the future horizontal wells. A fully multi-disciplinary simulation workflow was applied to the Diyab unconventional play in onshore UAE. This workflow illustrated the most important parameters impacting the SRV creation and production in the Diyab formation for he studied area. Multiple simulation scenarios and calibration runs showed how sensitive the SRV can be to different parameters and how well placement and fracture jobs can be possibly improved to enhance the SRV creation and ultimately the production performance.

Application Investigation of Light Proppant in Hydraulic Fracturing of Marcellus Shale

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aymen Alhemdi ◽  
Ming Gu
Keyword(s):  
History Matching ◽  
Marcellus Shale ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Well Performance ◽  
Fracture Permeability ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Stimulated Reservoir Volume ◽  
Conductivity Distribution ◽  
Cumulative Production

Abstract Slickwater-sand fracturing design is widely employed in Marcellus shale. The slickwater- sand creates long skinny fractures and maximizes the stimulated reservoir volume (SRV). However, due to the fast settling of sand in the water, lots of upper and deeper areas are not sufficiently propped. Reducing sand size can lead to insufficient fracture conductivity. This study proposes to use three candidate ultra-lightweight proppants ULWPs to enhance the fractured well performance in unconventional reservoirs. In step 1, the current sand pumping design is input into an in-house P3D fracture propagation simulator to estimate the fracture geometry and proppant concentrations. Next, the distribution of proppant concentration converts to conductivity and then to fracture permeability. In the third step, the fracture permeability from the second step is input into a reservoir simulator to predict the cumulative production for history matching and calibration. In step 4, the three ULWPs are used to replace the sand in the frac simulator to get new frac geometry and conductivity distribution and then import them in reservoir model for production evaluation. Before this study, the three ULWPs have already been tested in the lab to obtain their long-term conductivities under in-situ stress conditions. The conductivity distribution and production performance are analyzed and investigated. The induced fracture size and location of the produced layer for the current target well play a fundamental effect on ultra-light proppant productivity. The average conductivity of ULWPs with mesh 40/70 is larger and symmetric along the fracture except for a few places. However, ULWPs with mesh 100 generates low average conductivity and create a peak conductivity in limited areas. The ULW-3 tends to have less cumulative production compared with the other ULWPs. For this Marcellus Shale study, the advantages of ultra-lightweight proppant are restricted and reduced because the upward fracture height growth is enormous. And with the presence of the hydrocarbon layer is at the bottom of the fracture, making a large proportion of ULWPs occupies areas that are not productive places. The current study provides a guidance for operators in Marcellus Shale to determine (1) If the ULWP can benefit the current shale well treated by sand, (2) what type of ULWP should be used, and (3) given a certain type of ULWP, what is the optimum pumping schedule and staging/perforating design to maximize the well productivity. The similar workflow can be expanded to evaluate the economic potential of different ULWPs in any other unconventional field.

Influence of Reactive Flow Conditions on Barite Scaling in Marcellus Shale during Stimulation and Shut-In Periods of Hydraulic Fracturing

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 13625-13635
Author(s):  
Wei Xiong ◽  
Magdalena Gill ◽  
Johnathan Moore ◽  
Dustin Crandall ◽  
J. Alexandra Hakala ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Marcellus Shale ◽  
Reactive Flow ◽  
Flow Conditions

Geologic Controls on Gas Production and Hydraulic-Fracturing Flowback in Tight Gas Sandstones of the Late Jurassic Monteith Formation, Deep Basin, Alberta, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 024-040 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liliana Zambrano ◽  
Per K. Pedersen ◽  
Roberto Aguilera
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Tight Gas ◽  
Deep Basin ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Sandstone Reservoirs ◽  
Geologic Controls

Summary A comparison of rock properties integrated with production performance and hydraulic-fracturing flowback (FB) of the uppermost lithostratigraphic “Monteith A” and the lowermost portion “Monteith C” of the Monteith Formation in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) in Alberta is carried out with the use of existing producing gas wells. The analyses are targeted to understand the major geologic controls that differentiate the two tight gas sandstone reservoirs. This study consists of basic analytical tools available for geological characterization of tight gas reservoirs that is based on the identification and comparison of different rock types such as depositional, petrographic, and hydraulic for each lithostratigraphic unit of the Monteith Formation. As these low-matrix-permeability sandstone reservoirs were subjected to intense post-depositional diagenesis, a comparison of the various rock types allows the generation of more-accurate reservoir description, and a better understanding of the key geologic characteristics that control gas-production potential and possible impact on hydraulic-fracturing FB. Well performance and FB were the focus of many previous simulation and geochemical studies. In contrast, we find that an adequate understanding of the rocks hosting hydraulic fractures is a necessary complement to those studies for estimating FB times. This understanding was lacking in some previous studies. As a result, a new method is proposed on the basis of a crossplot of cumulative gas production vs. square root of time for estimating FB time. It is concluded that the “Monteith A” unit has better rock quality than the “Monteith C” unit because of less-heterogeneous reservoir geometry, less-complex mineralogical composition, and larger pore-throat apertures.

scholarly journals Evaluating Leachability of Residual Solids from Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 (19) ◽  
pp. 1581-1592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Countess ◽  
Gregory Boardman ◽  
Richard Hammack ◽  
Alexandra Hakala
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Marcellus Shale
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