Benefits
- Optimize use of stimulation fluid volumes
- Improve fracture placement for maximum production
- Minimize hydraulic fracturing times to bring well into production faster
Applications
- Production enhancement in unconventional fractured reservoirs
- Wellbore intervention to enhance production in naturally fractured reservoirs
- Input to reservoir flow simulators
Overview
In low matrix permeability reservoirs, an effective stimulation strategy requires a thorough understanding of natural and induced fracture networks. GaffneyCline™ energy advisory’s critically stressed fracture analysis services help you understand your natural and induced fracture networks for more effective and efficient stimulation.
We begin by analyzing your reservoir’s natural fracture permeability. We use calibrated 1D geomechanical models incorporating reservoir and fracture mechanical properties, including in-situ stresses and hydraulic behavior.
Fracture characterization utilizes wellbore images to identify fracture occurrence, orientation, connectivity, spacing, and intensity along a wellbore trajectory.
In addition to the modeling and fracture characterization results, we use GMI•MohrFracs™ software for Mohr-Coulomb analysis to compute each natural fracture’s proximity to frictional failure. With this insight, we can accurately differentiate between critically stressed and non-critically stressed fractures for improved planning and placement of your fracture stimulation sets.
Contact your Baker Hughes representative to learn how GaffneyCline Energy Advisory can help you optimize your stimulation jobs with detailed assessments of your reservoir’s critically stressed fractures.
Critically Stress Fracture Analysis - Natural Fracture Permeability 1D Analysis. In this GMI•MohrFracs™ example, production was enhanced when wells were drilled ~70º to the Northwest. In comparable horizontal wells, production increased from ~800 to ~5000 BOPD.
Deliverables
- Optimally oriented fracture sets
- Improved permeability and better understanding of depletion effects
- Optimized drilling trajectories
- Ideal depths of fracture clusters
- Reservoir permeability tensor at ambient/depleted/stimulated pressures
- Critical injection pressure for fault reactivation
- Proximity to failure of each identified fracture