Improvement of Hydraulic Fracturing Through Advanced Simulation, Production History Matching and Forecasting

Abstract

The current work is intended to show how Central Asian region adopted the industry's latest developments in hydraulic fracturing design optimization. The suggested workflow includes advanced proppant and acid transport modeling combined with production forecasting via connection of comprehensive hydraulic fracturing and reservoir simulators. The field examples from Kazakhstan are given to support the strengths of the suggested workflow. The suggested workflow significantly differs from the standard propped fracturing approach used in Kazakhstan. The new workflow uses one software platform for hydraulic fracturing simulations and hydrodynamic modeling. First, the comprehensive hydraulic fracturing simulator with advanced proppant and acid transport model, chemical and physical processes is used to perform a first approximation of the hydraulic fracturing design. Second, the designed fractures are incorporated into the dynamic simulator for a thorough sensitivity, uncertainty and probability analysis. Finally, the model is validated against historical production and used for forecasting and hydraulic fracturing treatment optimization.