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A pilot was drilled offshore Abu Dhabi aiming to determine the in-situ stress magnitudes. A time-dependent reactive shale formation separates Middle and Lower Cretaceous Limestone formations, leading to difficult open-hole logging conditions. Determining the stress regime and stress contrast across these formations is critical for assessing wellbore stability in extended-reach wells, setting casing shoe depths, and designing hydraulic fracturing in the tight reservoirs. Therefore, a comprehensive logging including multiple in-situ stress measurements and full-core was acquired. Seven microfrac stress measurements were obtained in one pipe-conveyed straddle-packer run conducted in a 15°-degree deviated 8½-in. open-hole wellbore. Each microfrac test was designed with multiple pressurization cycles to accurately obtain the closure stress away from the near-wellbore zone. Core and logging data from offset wells were used to calibrate the pre-job microfrac assessment. Real-time data monitoring was implemented for quality-control and tool operation decisions while logging. Three different pressure-decline analysis methods were used to identify the fracture closure: (i) SQRT square-root of time, (ii) G-function, and (iii) Log-Log plot on each microfrac station. The pilot well required an inhibited oil-based mud system to stabilize the 360-ft. water-sensitive shale formation. All microfrac stress measurements successfully reached the formation breakdown pressure, providing clear propagation and fracture closure identification. The three pressure decline methods produced results around ± 15 psi from each other with G-function predominately higher and Log-Log predominately lower than the SQRT. These microfrac tests measured minimum horizontal stress gradients between 0.67 to 0.77 psi/ft confirming the normal faulting stress regime in the studied reservoirs and a near strike-slip stress regime in the intervening shale formations. The formation breakdown, fracture reopening and closure pressure provide an accurate present-day tectonic model with ~0.1 and ~0.9 mStrain in the minimum (N80°W) and maximum (N10°E) horizontal stress directions in the absence of breakouts and induced fractures on image logs. The Lower Cretaceous tight reservoirs, identified as generally thin (<10-30ft) and low-quality (<10mD, locally <1mD) microporous carbonates, were located between low stress contrast (0.69 psi/ft) clay-rich limestones intervals in the overburden and high stress contrast (0.74 psi/ft) denser dolomites and clean tight limestones in the underburden. The risk of tool plugging and unsuccessful latching due to large particle solids in the mud was mitigated by multiple mud filters and repeated circulations while running-in hole with the straddle packer module. The microfrac tests in the Lower Cretaceous tight reservoirs provide the stress contrast measurements to properly evaluate hydraulic fracture containment on these tight reservoirs for future field development plans.
A pilot was drilled offshore Abu Dhabi aiming to determine the in-situ stress magnitudes. A time-dependent reactive shale formation separates Middle and Lower Cretaceous Limestone formations, leading to difficult open-hole logging conditions. Determining the stress regime and stress contrast across these formations is critical for assessing wellbore stability in extended-reach wells, setting casing shoe depths, and designing hydraulic fracturing in the tight reservoirs. Therefore, a comprehensive logging including multiple in-situ stress measurements and full-core was acquired. Seven microfrac stress measurements were obtained in one pipe-conveyed straddle-packer run conducted in a 15°-degree deviated 8½-in. open-hole wellbore. Each microfrac test was designed with multiple pressurization cycles to accurately obtain the closure stress away from the near-wellbore zone. Core and logging data from offset wells were used to calibrate the pre-job microfrac assessment. Real-time data monitoring was implemented for quality-control and tool operation decisions while logging. Three different pressure-decline analysis methods were used to identify the fracture closure: (i) SQRT square-root of time, (ii) G-function, and (iii) Log-Log plot on each microfrac station. The pilot well required an inhibited oil-based mud system to stabilize the 360-ft. water-sensitive shale formation. All microfrac stress measurements successfully reached the formation breakdown pressure, providing clear propagation and fracture closure identification. The three pressure decline methods produced results around ± 15 psi from each other with G-function predominately higher and Log-Log predominately lower than the SQRT. These microfrac tests measured minimum horizontal stress gradients between 0.67 to 0.77 psi/ft confirming the normal faulting stress regime in the studied reservoirs and a near strike-slip stress regime in the intervening shale formations. The formation breakdown, fracture reopening and closure pressure provide an accurate present-day tectonic model with ~0.1 and ~0.9 mStrain in the minimum (N80°W) and maximum (N10°E) horizontal stress directions in the absence of breakouts and induced fractures on image logs. The Lower Cretaceous tight reservoirs, identified as generally thin (<10-30ft) and low-quality (<10mD, locally <1mD) microporous carbonates, were located between low stress contrast (0.69 psi/ft) clay-rich limestones intervals in the overburden and high stress contrast (0.74 psi/ft) denser dolomites and clean tight limestones in the underburden. The risk of tool plugging and unsuccessful latching due to large particle solids in the mud was mitigated by multiple mud filters and repeated circulations while running-in hole with the straddle packer module. The microfrac tests in the Lower Cretaceous tight reservoirs provide the stress contrast measurements to properly evaluate hydraulic fracture containment on these tight reservoirs for future field development plans.
The objective of this work was to quantify the in-situ stress contrast between the reservoir and the surrounding dense carbonate layers above and below for accurate hydraulic fracturing propagation modelling and precise fracture containment prediction. The goal was to design an optimum reservoir stimulation treatment in a Lower Cretaceous tight oil reservoir without fracturing the lower dense zone and communicating the high-permeability reservoir below. This case study came from Abu Dhabi onshore where a vertical pilot hole was drilled to perform in-situ stress testing to design a horizontal multi-stage hydraulic fractured well in a 35-ft thick reservoir. The in-situ stress tests were obtained using a wireline straddle packer microfrac tool able to measure formation breakdown and fracture closure pressures in multiple zones across the dense and reservoir layers. Standard dual-packer micro-injection tests were conducted to measure stresses in reservoir layers while single-packer sleeve-frac tests were done to breakdown high-stress dense layers. The pressure versus time was monitored in real-time to make prompt geoscience decisions during the acquisition of the data. The formation breakdown and fracture closure pressures were utilized to calibrated minimum and maximum lateral tectonic strains for accurate in-situ stress profile. Then, the calibrated stress profile was used to simulate fracture propagation and containment for the subsequent reservoir stimulation design. A total 17 microfrac stress tests were completed in 13 testing points across the vertical pilot, 12 with dual-packer injection and 5 with single-packer sleeve fracturing inflation. The fracture closure results showed stronger stress contrast towards the lower dense zone (900 psi) in comparison with the upper dense zone (600 psi). These measurements enabled the oilfield operating company to place the lateral well in a lower section of the tight reservoir without the risk of fracturing out-of-zone. The novelty of this in-situ stress testing consisted of single packer inflations (sleeve frac) in an 8½-in hole in order to achieve higher differential pressures (7,000 psi) to breakdown the dense zones. The single packer breakdown permitted fracture propagation and reliable closure measurements with dual-packer injection at a lower differential reopening pressure (4,500 psi). Microfracturing the tight formation prior to fluid sampling produced clean oil samples with 80% reduction of pump out time in comparison to conventional straddle packer sampling operations. This was a breakthrough operational outcome in sampling this reservoir.
The objective of this work is to highlight wireline straddle-packer microfrac testing is an underutilized technology today by the oil and gas industry despite these tests have evolved significantly in the last 10 years. This work also summaries the technological improvements and latest advances of microfrac service deployment in addition to share the future of in-situ reservoir stress monitoring from fiber-optic Distributive Strain Sensing (DSS). Over 500 microfrac tests and more than 30 decades of stress testing data are compiled and analyzed from science and data-collection pilot wells drilled around the world. The number of pressure tests collected by the industry is estimated by Baker Hughes’ database and competitor’s market share to compare the substantial difference between the number of reservoir pressure points and microfrac stress test collected every year for the last decade. Machine learning algorithms predict tectonic strain values to match microfrac formation breakdown and fracture closure using basic rock elastic properties to calculate the static stiffness of the formations where the stress tests are obtained. The microfrac success rate has increased from 20% to 85% in the last decade thanks to upgraded straddle packer tool capabilities and improved operational practices. The formation breakdown pressure data consistently indicates higher level of uncertainty than reservoir pore pressure. However, the industry collects several orders of magnitude more pore pressure points than microfrac stress tests every year. Possibly, this is the consequence of using basic effective in-situ stress ratio models by geomechanics practitioners that requires few calibration points from leak-off tests or borehole breakout modelling. This practice could treat microfracs as a nice-to-have calibration data rather than an essential subsurface tectonic stress information. A significant increase in microfrac testing is observed during the US shale gas revolution in order to calibrate stress profile models where basic effective stress ratio models failed to predict a lithology-dependent stress contrast between pay and non-pay intervals. The data shows the importance of using microfrac tests to calibrate subsurface tectonic strain values and predict accurate hydraulic fracture containment. The predicted tectonic strain data from microfrac testing shows values between 0.05 to 1.2 mStrain which can also be detected with current fiber optic technology using two centimeter grading and capable of detecting two micrometers of deformation. This new distributed strain sensing technology can be implemented to detect changes of stress and strain as the reservoir is developed by producer and injector wells. This technology may be the future of stress monitoring at the reservoir scale.
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