The Effect of Rock Mechanical Properties on Fracture Conductivity for Shale Formations

Author(s):  
Timothy Arthur Jansen ◽  
Ding Zhu ◽  
Alfred Daniel Hill
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-44
Author(s):  
Homa Viola Akaha-Tse ◽  
Michael Oti ◽  
Selegha Abrakasa ◽  
Charles Ugwu Ugwueze

This study was carried out to determine the rock mechanical properties relevant for hydrocarbon exploration and production by hydraulic  fracturing of organic rich shale formations in Anambra basin. Shale samples and wireline logs were analysed to determine the petrophysical, elastic, strength and in-situ properties necessary for the design of a hydraulic fracturing programme for the exploitation of the shales. The results obtained indicated shale failure in shear and barreling under triaxial test conditions. The average effective porosity of 0.06 and permeability of the order of 10-1 to 101 millidarcies showed the imperative for induced fracturing to assure fluid flow. Average Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of about 2.06 and 0.20 respectively imply that the rocks are favourable for the formation and propagation of fractures during hydraulic fracking. The minimum horizontal stress, which determines the direction of formation and growth of artificially induced hydraulic fractures varies from wellto-well, averaging between 6802.62 to 32790.58 psi. The order of variation of the in-situ stresses is maximum horizontal stress>vertical stress>minimum horizontal stress which implies a reverse fault fracture regime. The study predicts that the sweet spots for the exploration and development of the shale-gas are those sections of the shale formations that exhibit high Young’s modulus, low Poisson’s ratio, and high brittleness. The in-situ stresses required for artificially induced fractures which provide pore space for shale gas accumulation and expulsion are adequate. The shales possess suitable mechanical properties to fracture during hydraulic fracturing. Application of these results will enhance the potentials of the onshore Anambra basin as a reliable component in increasing Nigeria’s gas reserves, for the improvement of the nation’s economy and energy security. Key Words: Hydraulic Fracturing, Organic-rich Shales, Rock Mechanical Properties, Petrophysical Properties, Anambra Basin


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maaruf Hussain ◽  
Abduljamiu Amao ◽  
Khalid Al-Ramadan ◽  
Sunday Olatunji ◽  
Ardiansyah Negara

Abstract The knowledge of rock mechanical properties is critical to reducing drilling risk and maximizing well and reservoir productivity. Rock chemical composition, their spatial distribution, and porosity significantly influenced these properties. However, low porosity characterized unconventional reservoirs as such, geochemical properties considerably control their mechanical behavior. In this study, we used chemostratigraphy as a correlation tool to separate strata in highly homogenous formations where other traditional stratigraphic methods failed. In addition, we integrated the chemofacies output and reduced Young's modulus to outline predictable associations between facies and mechanical properties. Thus, providing better understanding of lithofacies-controlled changes in rock strength that are useful inputs for geomechanical models and completions stimulations.


Mathematics ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (8) ◽  
pp. 132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harwinder Singh Sidhu ◽  
Prashanth Siddhamshetty ◽  
Joseph Kwon

Hydraulic fracturing has played a crucial role in enhancing the extraction of oil and gas from deep underground sources. The two main objectives of hydraulic fracturing are to produce fractures with a desired fracture geometry and to achieve the target proppant concentration inside the fracture. Recently, some efforts have been made to accomplish these objectives by the model predictive control (MPC) theory based on the assumption that the rock mechanical properties such as the Young’s modulus are known and spatially homogenous. However, this approach may not be optimal if there is an uncertainty in the rock mechanical properties. Furthermore, the computational requirements associated with the MPC approach to calculate the control moves at each sampling time can be significantly high when the underlying process dynamics is described by a nonlinear large-scale system. To address these issues, the current work proposes an approximate dynamic programming (ADP) based approach for the closed-loop control of hydraulic fracturing to achieve the target proppant concentration at the end of pumping. ADP is a model-based control technique which combines a high-fidelity simulation and function approximator to alleviate the “curse-of-dimensionality” associated with the traditional dynamic programming (DP) approach. A series of simulations results is provided to demonstrate the performance of the ADP-based controller in achieving the target proppant concentration at the end of pumping at a fraction of the computational cost required by MPC while handling the uncertainty in the Young’s modulus of the rock formation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongyan Yu ◽  
Xiaolong Li ◽  
Zhenliang Wang ◽  
Reza Rezaee ◽  
Litao Gan

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