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Microseismic monitoring in unconventional reservoirs: are natural fractures hiding in plain sight?
- Source: First Break, Volume 36, Issue 4, Apr 2018, p. 83 - 89
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- 01 Apr 2018
Abstract
As the shale revolution is adjusting to the realities of the new market and lower oil prices, the operators’ focus is shifting towards unconventional reservoirs and increasing hydrocarbon production efficiencies. The oil and gas operators’ demands are transforming our paradigm of reservoir characterization, forecasting, and monitoring. As such, heterogeneity of an unconventional reservoir is one of the main factors impacting well productivity. Well performance is driven by the size and efficiency of the interconnected fracture ‘plumbing system’ which is influenced by the presence of natural fractures and the process of multistage hydraulic fracturing. A complex, interconnected natural fracture network can significantly increase the size of the stimulated reservoir volume, provide additional surface area contact and enhance permeability. However, the interaction of the natural fracture networks and the completions-induced fractures is complex and can be affected by multiple factors, such as present-day maximum horizontal stress orientation, character of pre-existing natural fractures, presence of faults, lithology types that the horizontal well is being drilled through, as well as the well completions design itself.