Microseismic Imaging of Hydraulic Fracture Complexity in Shale Gas Reservoirs

Microseismic imaging of shale gas hydraulic fracture treatments has shown that the stimulations are often complex, resulting from interaction of the injection with pre-existing natural fractures. In this paper, various case studies will be shown contrasting shale gas stimulations with tight gas hydraulic fracture treatments. Integration of microseismic images with reservoir characterization and geomechanical factors is important to understand the mechanisms controlling the complexity and their variation through the reservoir. Microseismic images are also valuable to characterize the success of the planned stimulation, which is important to understand the well performance and improve future stimulation designs and completion strategies.