Title: Stress-seepage bidirectional coupling analysis of a horizontal well with multi-stage fractured fractures

Authors: Shubo Zhang; Gang Wang; Ke Wang; Hengjie Luan; Letang Sun; Wei Han

Addresses: Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China ' Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China ' Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China ' Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Mine Disaster Prevention and Control, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China ' China Highway Engineering Consulting Corporation, Beijing, 100195, China ' Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Civil Engineering Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

Abstract: To explore the gas production performance of a horizontal well with multi-stage fractured fractures in a shale gas reservoir, a mathematical model considering stress-seepage bidirectional coupling and the stress sensitivity of permeability was developed. A two dimensions finite element model of the shale gas reservoir and a horizontal well with multi-stage fractured fractures was established in this study. The results show the complexity of fractured fractures profoundly affects reservoir production, and a higher complexity indicates a higher productivity. This result also implies that it is unreasonable to consider only primary fractures in the fractured horizontal well analysis. The higher initial reservoir permeability does not necessarily result in higher gas production under coupling conditions. However, in the early stage of production, the higher initial reservoir permeability leads to a considerable gas production rate. The permeability of fractures and the bottom hole pressure have less influence on the reservoir productivity. [Received: July 30, 2018; Accepted: August 7, 2020]

Keywords: shale gas reservoir; fractured horizontal well; stress-seepage bidirectional coupling; productivity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2021.117451

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2021 Vol.28 No.2, pp.174 - 190

Accepted: 07 Aug 2020
Published online: 07 Sep 2021 *

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