Hydraulic Fracture Design and Well Spacing Optimization for Gas-Condensate Reservoirs

Abstract

In state-of-the-art production data analysis and computational methodologies applied to multiphase lease condensate flow, condensate-banking effect is usually neglected to enable easier analytic treatment. However, neglecting the amplified role of condensate banking in multiphase flow in unconventional formations may generate misleading analytical results and calculations during hydraulic fracture design and optimization. This work proposes a semi-analytical model eminently applicable to unconventional reservoirs to incorporate the effect of condensate banking in hydraulic fracture design and well spacing. Analytical models for Darcy flow above and below the dew point pressures were considered whilst estimating the optimum fracture design in gas condensate reservoirs using Schechter's approach and incorporating the effects of the condensate blockage radius. The validity of the series of proposed semi-analytical solutions that capture condensate-banking effect in unconventional reserves is verified by discussing a number of cases and comparison against full-scale numerical simulation data.