A Numerical Multistage Fractured Horizontal Well Model Concerning Hilly-Terrain Well Trajectory in Shale Reservoirs with Natural Fractures

Liying Zhu, Guoqing Han, Wenqi Ke, Xingyuan Liang, Jingfei Tang and Jiacheng Dai
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Liying Zhu: State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, Beijing 100083, China
Guoqing Han: College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Wenqi Ke: State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, Beijing 100083, China
Xingyuan Liang: College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China
Jingfei Tang: State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, Beijing 100083, China
Jiacheng Dai: College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Multistage hydraulic fracturing is one of the most prevalent approaches for shale reservoir development. Due to the complexity of constructing reservoir environments for experiments, numerical simulation is a vital method to study flow behavior under reservoir conditions. In this paper, we propose a numerical model that considers a multistage fractured horizontal well with a hilly-terrain trajectory in a shale reservoir with the presence of natural fractures. The model was constructed based on the MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox and used the Embedded Discrete Fractured Model (EDFM) to describe the interrelationship between the matrix, fractures, and wellbore. The model was then applied to an actual condensate gas well producing from a shale reservoir, and the effects of reservoir parameters on the simulation data were studied based on this well case. The simulation results were highly consistent with the actual production data, which validates the accuracy of this model and proves its potential for predicting future production trends. We extended the discussion to two examples with extreme well trajectories by reviewing the inflow contribution of each hydraulic fracture with respect to fracture pressure, and the changes in static pressure with time. In conclusion, the proposed model is capable of providing simulation results close to reality and thus guiding field design and operation in the fracturing and drilling process.

Keywords: multistage fracturing; horizontal well; hilly-terrain well trajectory; condensate gas (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: 2022
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