Process simulation and performance evaluation of plugging cakes during temporary plugging and diverting fracturing

Abstract

For tight oil and gas reservoirs to form complex fracture networks with high conductivity and repeated treatment of old wells, temporary plugging and diverting fracturing technology has become one of the important stimulation methods. Previous articles have been carried out on different types of temporary plugging agents in fracture pressure rise law and placement shape, but studies on the permeability of temporary plugging cakes are relatively lacking. In this paper, the pressure rise law of five kinds of temporary plugging agent is studied by conventional fracture simulation device, and the permeability properties of temporary plugging cakes are studied by original design manufactured porous medium device. The results show that there are some differences between the permeability of temporary plugging cakes and the formation of pressure-bearing plugging cakes, the permeability is related to the types of plugging cakes, and the pressure rising law is related to the type and particle size distribution of temporary plugging material. The maximum length of DA-1, DA-2, DA-3 and KMS-D aggregates is 2.93 cm, 5.83 cm, 6.73 cm and 6.00 cm, and the minimum aggregate permeability is 23.88 mD, 19.19 mD, 15.13 mD and 36.97 mD.

Keywords:

• temporary plugging and diverting fracturing
• plugging cakes
• particle size distribution
• permeability
• pressure rising capacity

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no financial conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Credit author statement

All data in the article comes from the author, without plagiarism and copyright issues.

Additional information

Funding

This work is financially supported by the Cooperative Innovation Center of Unconventional Oil and Gas (Ministry of Education & Hubei Province), Yangtze University, (No. UOG2022-01), Planned Project, Hubei Provincial Department of Science and Technology (Second Batch), (No. 2021CFB249) & Project of Science and technology research, Education Department of Hubei Province (No. Q20211303).