Application of Integrated Advanced Diagnostics and Modeling to Improve Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation Analysis and Optimization

Abstract

Economic development of unconventional resources relies heavily on the effectiveness of propped hydraulic fracture stimulation treatments (HFS or "fracs"). Non-stimulated and/or under-stimulated reservoir continues to be a critical industry concern. Mitigation is expensive and may require refracturing and/or additional wells to be drilled. Techniques to monitor and diagnose the geometry of HFS are limited and analysis typically has large uncertainties. This paper summarizes multiple datasets to demonstrate how complementary diagnostics significantly reduce uncertainties in their analysis, help to calibrate frac models and improve completion design of multi-stage wells. Diagnostics utilized in the datasets include: fiber optic distributed sensing (acoustic & temperature), non-radioactive tracers and production logs. We found that integrating these complementary diagnostics with other subsurface and well information not only confirmed that actual frac heights were different than intended in about half of the monitored stages, but also provided new insights that allow us to modify the HFS treatment design to better match the desired geometries. These diagnostics were used to history match and calibrate our frac models, allowing us to extrapolate results from the few wells with diagnostics to additional wells in the field. Statistics are also provided for the datasets including: percentages of perforation clusters and net sand treated to demonstrate the potential opportunity for improved stimulations and reserves recovery.

Advancement of Hydraulic Fracture Diagnostics in Unconventional Formations

“…DTS is useful for identifying communication between stages. During hydraulic fracture stimulation, the entire well cools down to the last perforation taking fluid [46].…”

“…By monitoring formation warmback after stimulation, DTS data can also help to restrict the geometry of near-wellbore fractures [30,60]. DAS enabled the prediction of dominant fractures locations to optimize and improve future treatments [46,57]. Compared to DTS, DAS has the advantage of faster diagnosis of immediate changes in the flow [61].…”

Velocity Tracking for Flow Monitoring and Production Profiling Using Distributed Acoustic Sensing

“…by Boone et al (2014); -Hydraulic fracture monitoring, e.g. by Molenaar et al (2011) or Ugueto et al (2014); -etc.…”

Flow Monitoring and Production Profiling Using DAS

“…Following the successful introduction for pipeline integrity monitoring several years ago (Williams (2012)), Shell and OptaSense started a collaboration to develop DAS also for downhole applications , ). This has led to major developments in the area of in-well monitoring (Boone et al (2014), Johanessen et al (2012), , Ugueto et al (2014), Van der Horst et al (2013) and geophysical imaging and surveillance (Mateeva et al (2012), Mestayer et al (2012), Webster et al (2013Webster et al ( , 2014). The focus of this paper will be on the application of DAS for in-well flow monitoring.…”