The Effect of Fracturing Fluid Saturation on Natural Gas Flow Behavior in Tight Reservoirs

Mianmo Meng, Yinghao Shen, Hongkui Ge, Xiaosong Xu and Yang Wu
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Mianmo Meng: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yinghao Shen: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Hongkui Ge: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Xiaosong Xu: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Yang Wu: State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 20, 1-15

Abstract: Hydraulic fracturing becomes an essential method to develop tight gas. Under high injection pressure, fracturing fluid entering into the formation will reduce the flow channel. To investigate the influence of water saturation on gas flow behavior, this study conducted the gas relative permeability with water saturation and the flow rate with the pressure gradient at different water saturations. As the two dominant tight gas-bearing intervals, the Upper Paleozoic Taiyuan and Shihezi Formations deposited in Ordos Basin were selected because they are the target layers for holding vast tight gas. Median pore radius in the Taiyuan Formation is higher than the one in the Shihezi Formation, while the most probable seepage pore radius in the Taiyuan Formation is lower than the one in the Shihezi Formation. The average irreducible water saturation is 54.4% in the Taiyuan Formation and 61.6% in the Shihezi Formation, which indicates that the Taiyuan Formation has more movable water. The average critical gas saturation is 80.4% and 69.9% in these two formations, respectively, which indicates that the Shihezi Formation has more movable gas. Both critical gas saturation and irreducible water saturation have a negative relationship with porosity as well as permeability. At the same water saturation, the threshold gradient pressure of the Taiyuan Formation is higher than the one in the Shihezi Formation, which means that water saturation has a great influence on the Taiyuan Formation. Overall, compared with the Shihezi Formation, the Taiyuan Formation has a higher median pore size and movable water saturation, but water saturation has more influence on its gas flow capacity. Our research is conducive to understanding the effect of fracturing fluid filtration on the production of natural gas from tight reservoirs.

Keywords: tight reservoirs; hydraulic fracturing; water saturation; gas relative permeability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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