Title: A two-dimensional fully coupled numerical simulator for modelling hydraulic fracture propagation and long-term recovery in tight gas reservoirs - part 2 - application and case study

Authors: Mohamad Zeini Jahromi; John Yilin Wang; Turgay Ertekin

Addresses: Carbo Ceramics, Houston, Texas, USA; Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and Energy Institute, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 202 Hosler Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA ' Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and Energy Institute, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 202 Hosler Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA ' Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering and Energy Institute, Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 202 Hosler Building, University Park, PA 16802, USA

Abstract: Over time, improvements in understanding unconventional gas reservoirs, advancement in reservoir modelling approaches and study of production mechanisms has improved stimulation designs. This has maximised gas recovery and economic return as a result. A fully integrated coupled model has been developed (Zeini, 2013), which takes into consideration the mutual influence between dynamic fracture propagation and reservoir flow. The model is capable of fully simulating reservoir flow, fracture propagation, proppant distribution, cleanup process, long-term gas recovery and resulted stress change through a stationary reservoir/stress grid system. In this paper, we conducted parametric studies by varying injection rate, treatment volume, proppant type, flowback rate, and FBHP for tight gas reservoirs. Based on the numerical experiments, we developed optimised treatment guidelines, optimal flowback rate and optimal well FBHP for long-term recovery.

Keywords: hydraulic fracture propagation modelling; tight gas reservoirs; numerical simulation; fracking; long-term recovery; reservoir flow; proppant distribution; cleanup process; long-term gas recovery; stress change; injection rate; treatment volume; proppant type; well flowing bottom hole pressure; well FBHP; flowback rate.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPE.2015.071057

International Journal of Petroleum Engineering, 2015 Vol.1 No.3, pp.146 - 163

Received: 04 Nov 2013
Accepted: 25 Aug 2014

Published online: 10 Aug 2015 *

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