Influencing Factors Analysis and Optimization of Hydraulic Fracturing in Multi-Layered and Thin Tight Sandstone Gas Reservoir

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 16; no. 23; p. 7797
• Main Authors: Zhang, Hao, Bai, Yuhu, Fang, Maojun, Meng, Fankun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2023
• Subjects: Analysis; Coal; fracturing influencing factors analysis; fracturing numerical simulation; Geology; Hydraulic fracturing; hydraulic fracturing optimization; multi-layered fracturing; Natural gas; Natural gas reserves; Oil wells; Optimization; Permeability; Propagation; Simulation; tight sandstone gas development; China
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en16237797

With the deepening of exploration and development of tight sandstone gas reservoirs, the remaining recoverable reservoirs gradually become thinner with the vertical stratigraphic structure. The geomechanical properties become complex, and development based on conventional hydraulic fracturing methods often leads to serious problems, such as difficult control of fracture height, penetrating interlayers, too short fracture length, and inadequate proppant filling. In view of the above problems, we conducted a numerical investigation on a hydraulic fracturing scheme in a multi-layered and thin tight sandstone gas reservoir. According to the dataset from wells in a real gas reservoir in China’s Ordos Basin, the relevant geomechanical characteristics of the gas layers, together with the interlayers in the main production interval, were obtained, based on which, a fine numerical model was developed. By using the PL3D fracture propagation algorithm, a 3D hydraulic fracture propagation model was produced, and then using microseismic monitoring and production data matching, a high-precision hydraulic fracture model of the multi-layered and thin tight sandstone gas reservoir was obtained. On this basis, the influence of different geomechanical parameters and fracturing operational parameters on hydraulic fracture propagation was analyzed. Finally, an optimized hydraulic fracturing scheme that fitted the characteristics of the multi-layered and thin tight sandstone gas reservoir was proposed. Using a typical reservoir example, the optimized scheme enabled control of the fracture height in thin layers and the creation of long fractures with better proppant filling, so that the productivity of the fracture was significantly improved.