Production Improvement via Optimization of Hydraulic Acid Fracturing Design Parameters in a Tight Carbonate Reservoir

Rahman Ashena, Fred Aminzadeh and Amir Khoramchehr
Additional contact information
Rahman Ashena: School of Engineering, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation (APU), Kuala Lumpur 57000, Malaysia
Fred Aminzadeh: FACT Inc., 3345 State Street, Suite 3282, Santa Barbara, CA 93130, USA
Amir Khoramchehr: Independent Consultant, Ahvaz 63187-14317, Iran

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-24

Abstract: Hydraulic fracturing can be utilized to extract trapped hydrocarbon where integrated fracture networks do not exist for sufficient production. In this work, design parameters of a hydraulic acid fracturing of a tight carbonate reservoir in the Middle East were optimized. The effect of optimized hydraulic fracturing on production performance and rate was investigated. Using the petrophysical well logs, formation integrity tests, core data the Mechanical Earth Model (MEM) of the tight carbonate reservoir was created, which resulted in rock mechanical properties and in-situ stresses. The other required parameters for fracturing design were either measured or found from empirical correlations. Following a candidate selection of suitable layers for fracturing, the input parameters were loaded in GOHFER software to design and optimize the fracturing job. Finally, the production forecast was performed and compared with current conditions. The injection parameters (flow rate, total volume, and number of stages) of the fracturing fluid (composed of guar and CMHPG and polymer with 15% HCL acid) were optimized to reach optimum resultant fracture geometry. Finally, optimized injection parameters were found at the injection flow rate of 18 barrels per minute, total injection volume of 90 K-gal, and three stages of injection. Using the optimal injection parameters, the optimized fracture geometrical sizes were determined: the fracture half-length (L f ): 148 m (486 ft), fracture height (H f ) of 64 m (210 ft) and fracture width (W f ) of 0.0962 in. Finally, the effect of this stimulation method on future production performance was investigated. The well production rate showed an increase from 840 STB/Day (before fracturing) to 1270 STB/Day (post fracturing). This study contributes to the practical design and optimization of hydraulic fracturing in the tight carbonate formation of the investigated oilfield and the other potential fields in the region. The results showed that this stimulation method can efficiently improve production performance from reservoir formation.

Keywords: hydraulic acid fracturing; optimization; MEM; candidate selection; optimal pumping parameters (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
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/5/1947/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/5/1947/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:5:p:1947-:d:765979

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().