Investigation of hydraulic fracturing operation and fracture propagation simulation in reservoir rock

Abstract

For many decades most oil wells in Iran have produced using their natural flow potential and haven’t needed to be fractured. As time goes by, the reservoir pressure depletes and the need for hydraulic fracturing as a stimulation practice arises. Nonetheless there is no record of successful hydraulic fracturing in Iran.

The Bangestan reservoir with a suitable amount of oil in place and good rock reservoirs, has been selected for the present research work. In this work, the in situ stress profile was calculated by using the available petrophysical data. This is achieved by using poroelastic theory for the stresses, and the Mohr–Coulomb criterion to predict failure. The model leads to easily computed expressions for calculating the pressure required to maintain hydraulic fracturing. Then the appropriate depth for treatment was determined. The results indicate that Ilam and Sarvak formations could be good candidates for hydraulic fracturing. Then, for two layers, a hydraulic fracture was designed and the production was predicted and the Net Present Value (NPV) resulting from the fracture of both layers was investigated.

Keywords:

• hydraulic fracturing
• mechanical earth model
• petrophysical log
• fracture propagation