Experimental Study of Hydraulic Fracture/Natural Fracture Interaction on a Tight Sandstone Formation

Yang, Xiawei; Burghardt, Jeffrey; Zhang, Hui; Yang, Zhaozhong; Zhang, Fuxiang; Pei, Jianyong; Qi, Chunyan; Qiu, Kaibin; Whitney, N.

doi:10.15530/urtec-2016-2460449

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…If HF do not propagate across pre-existing NF, it would react the NF plane in the following three items: dilation, shearing, and the combinations of both . The occurrences of the abovementioned three forms are discussed: (i) At a low approach angle (the angle between HF and NF), the fracture overpressure at the HF tip makes the NF interface to open up, increases its width, and thus dilates the NF; (ii) in the weakly bonded rock–NF interface with shallow burial depth, low approach angle, and NF of high cement thickness, induced HF will get arrested at the NF interface, later resulting in NF slip by shearing; , and (iii) when the propagating HF are arrested at the NF and continue to propagate the tip of the NF with increase in length and width, a combined dilation and shearing behavior is occurred …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Well Types on Optimizing the Co-production of Gas from Coal and Tight Formations

et al. 2022

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Co-production of gas from both coalbeds and tight formations is considered a viable means to improve well productivity. Most previous studies focused on the geology and resource estimates for gas production viability with little attention to the effectiveness of gas co-production with regard to well types. To make up for this weakness, a two-phase flow and reservoir deformation coupled model is proposed together with an anisotropic permeability model. The coupled model is first verified using gas and water production data from a vertical well from the Linxing block in the Ordos Basin, China. Then a reservoir model is built, including one coal seam and one tight gas formation separated by a low-permeability stratum with four simulation scenarios designed. Based on the results, the impacts of the crossflow between different reservoirs are addressed and the mechanisms of the gas co-production rate profile types observed in the Linxing block are analyzed. It is also found that high water-saturated adjacent reservoirs would keep the water relative permeability of the gas-rich reservoir at a high level, impeding the gas flow. The use of a horizontal well is strongly recommended when most gases are stored in a specific thin reservoir and the life of the well is short; however, a vertical well is favored when two or more gas-rich and high permeability reservoirs co-exist and the well life is relatively long. For the application of vertical wells, the hydraulic fractures should extend in the horizontal planes and interact with the pre-existing natural fracture. For horizontal wells, the hydraulic fracture should extend in the host reservoir and penetrate into the adjacent strata. This work can shed new light on the co-exploitation of coal measure methane.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Well Types on Optimizing the Co-production of Gas from Coal and Tight Formations

et al. 2022

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“…In experimental work of Cheng et al (2014b), 0.3 m cubic blocks composed of cement and quartz sand were used in a triaxial system to show crossing behavior. Sandstone blocks from an outcrop of the Kenshen sandstone formation in Tarim Oil Field were utilized by Yang et al (2016) to investigate HF-NF interaction in a poly-axial stress frame loaded in a strike-slip stress regime to show arrest and NF reactivation behavior. In approach by Mighani et al (2018a), cylindrical blocks of poly(methyl) meta acrylate (PMMA) and Solnhofen limestone were used for sliding experiments to investigate HF-NF interaction under triaxial stress condition.…”

Section: Methods Of Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At low approach angle (30°) and low fracture toughness (0.32 MPA), the propagating HF will likely "halt" at the NF interface and divert into the NF (Keshavarzi and Jahanbakhshi 2013; Taheri-Shakib et al 2016b). Yang et al (2016) showed that horizontal propagating HFs tend to be arrested by NF due to strongly cemented matrix, and the HF is also likely to reactivate the NF tip by shearing. From the result, a secondary tensile fracture growth can be observed from the tip of reactivated sheared NF, thereby creating a twist-like fracture network.…”

Section: Nf Reactivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interaction between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures: current status and prospective directions

Kolawole

Ispas

2019

J Petrol Explor Prod Technol

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Hydraulic fracturing treatment is one of the most efficient conventional matrix stimulation techniques currently utilized in the petroleum industry. However, due to the spatiotemporal complex nature of fracture propagation in a naturally-and often times systematically fractured media, the influence of natural fractures (NF) and in situ stresses on hydraulic fracture (HF) initiation and propagation within a reservoir during the hydrofracturing process remains an important issue. Over the past 50 years of advances in the understanding of HF-NF interactions, no comprehensive revision of the state of the knowledge exists. Here, we reviewed over 140 scientific articles on investigations of HF-NF interactions, published over the past 50 years. We highlight the most commonly observed HF-NF interactions and their implications for unconventional oil and gas production. Using observational and quantitative analyses, we find that numerical modeling and simulation is the most prominent method of approach, whereas there are less publications on the experimental approach, and analytical method is the least utilized approach. Further, we suggest how HF-NF interactions can be monitored in real time on the field during a pre-frac test. Lastly, based on the results of our literature review, we recommend promising areas of investigation that may provide more profound insights into HF-NF interactions in such a way that can be directly applied to the optimization of fracture-stimulation field operations.

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“…The tight sandstone oil reservoir originally has the low production due to the low porosity and low permeability and must be hydraulically fractured to achieve its effective development (Chen et al., 2019; Chuprakov et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2016; Wei et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2016). The fracturing effect of the tight oil reservoir is closely related to the reservoir stimulation degree (Ante et al., 2018; Guo et al., 2015; Lai et al., 2017), which is affected by the NF system, the in-situ stress conditions, the fracturing treatment parameters and techniques etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The fracturing effect of the tight oil reservoir is closely related to the reservoir stimulation degree (Ante et al., 2018; Guo et al., 2015; Lai et al., 2017), which is affected by the NF system, the in-situ stress conditions, the fracturing treatment parameters and techniques etc. Understanding the effects of these factors on the fracture propagation in the tight sandstone is of great significance to optimize the fracturing design, obtain the expected fracture morphology, and enhance the production (Abdelaziz et al., 2019; Ante et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2019; Cheng et al., 2014; Deng et al., 2016; Dong et al., 2015; Fallahzadeh et al., 2015; Guo et al., 2018; Gwaba et al., 2019; He et al., 2017; Li et al., 2018; Tan et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on fracture propagation of hydraulic fracturing for tight sandstone outcrop

Duan

Sun

Deng

et al. 2020

Energy Exploration & Exploitation

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The tight sandstone oil reservoirs characterized by the low porosity and permeability must be hydraulically fractured to obtain the commercial production. Nevertheless, the post-fracturing production of tight oil reservoirs is not always satisfactory. The influence mechanism of various factors on the fracture propagation in the tight oil reservoirs needs further investigation to provide an optimized fracturing plan, obtain an expected fracture morphology and increase the oil productivity. Thus, the horizontal well fracturing simulations were carried out in a large-scale true tri-axial test system with the samples from the Upper Triassic Yanchang Fm tight sandstone outcrops in Yanchang County, Shaanxi, China, and the results were compared with those of fracturing simulations of the shale outcrop in the 5th member of Xujiahe Fm (abbreviated as the Xu 5th Member) in the Sichuan Basin. The effects of the natural fracture (NF) development degree, horizontal in-situ stress conditions, fracturing treatment parameters, etc. on the hydraulic fracture (HF) propagation morphology were investigated. The results show that conventional hydraulic fracturing of the tight sandstone without NFs only produces a single double-wing primary fracture. The fracture propagation path in the shale or the tight sandstone with developed NFs is controlled by the high horizontal differential stress. The higher stress difference (<12MPa) facilitates forming the complex fracture network. It is recommended to fracture the reservoir with developed NFs by injecting the high-viscosity guar gum firstly and the low-viscosity slick water then to increase the SRV. The low-to-high variable rate fracturing method is recommended as the low injection rate facilitates the fracturing fluid filtration into the NF system, and the high injection rate increases the net pressure within the fracture. The dual-horizontal well simultaneous fracturing increases the HF density and enhances the HF complexity in the reservoir, and significantly increases the possibility of forming the complex fracture network. The fracturing pressure curves reflect the fracture propagation status. According to statistical analysis, the fracturing curves are divided into types corresponding to multi-bedding plane (BP) opening, single fracture generation, multi-fracture propagation under variable rate fracturing, and forming of the fracture network through communicating the HF with NFs. The results provide a reference for the study of the HF propagation mechanism and the fracturing design in the tight sandstone reservoirs.

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Experimental Study of Hydraulic Fracture/Natural Fracture Interaction on a Tight Sandstone Formation

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Influence of Well Types on Optimizing the Co-production of Gas from Coal and Tight Formations

Influence of Well Types on Optimizing the Co-production of Gas from Coal and Tight Formations

Interaction between hydraulic fractures and natural fractures: current status and prospective directions

Experimental study on fracture propagation of hydraulic fracturing for tight sandstone outcrop

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