Innovative Modeling Techniques to Quantify Fracture Characteristics, Reservoir Properties, & Well Performance in Shales

In order to characterize reservoir and hydraulic fracture properties using well performance data in shale gas reservoirs, it is essential to apply an appropriate workflow and advanced modeling techniques. The workflow should begin with a review of the well data followed by the use of analytical methods to identify different types of well behavior and to form hypotheses about the various production mechanisms at work. Numerical modeling can then proceed, first with scoping models and then with detailed numerical models to conduct production forecasting and completion optimization sensitivities. A useful tool for this detailed modeling is finite-element simulation which places a large number of closely-spaced nodes near the hydraulic fractures. This extremely fine-scale gridding captures high-resolution pressure transients that dominate well behavior during the first few years of production. The results of this work provide key insights into reservoir and fracture properties, and can be used to optimize production forecasts, well placements, lateral lengths, and completion techniques.