SPE 152837 New Methods to Predict Inflow Performance of Multiply Fractured Horizontal Wells under Two-Phase Condition and

Optimize Number of Fracture Stages

He Zhang, Guoqing Han*, Fabien Houeto, Rodney Lessard, Wenhao Wang, and Jun Li, Schlumberger

Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers This paper was prepared for presentation at the North Africa Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Cairo, Egypt, 2022 February 2012. This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract A new method is presented to calculate the total inflow and associated productivity index (PI) under two-phase conditions by a sum of contributions from matrix and N multiple fractures using semi-analytical methods. Maximizing the net Present present value (NPV), the new inflow performance relationship (IPR) models can determine the optimal fracture stage number. Furthermore, the deliverable PI is used as an input to a network model to calculate the operating rate, taking into account the network constraints such as the node pressure, allowed flowrate, or choke in place. Through this analysis, one may determine that the horizontal well of interest may not flow at the maximum PIit suggests that the network constraints dissipate the contribution from m stage(s) fractures. The number of fracture stages is then reset to (Nm), the IPR model is rerun, and an updated PI is imported into the network model. This process is iterated until the final optimization is achieved. This method can quickly optimize the number of fracture stages for horizontal wells under two-phase solution-gas conditions, assisting operating companies in planning field development. Introduction A very high percentage of wells drilled today are horizontal and most of those require stimulation. Because of the high cost of fracturing, the optimal number of fracture stages needs to be determined as soon as possible when drilling is being completed. Ideally, a numerical reservoir and fracturing simulation would give the most accurate results, but such simulation is time consuming and sometimes impractical as it requires logging data, fluid sampling, and pressure transient analysis (Taylor et al. 2011). Inflow performance relationship (IPR) models can be used to quickly estimate the productivity index (PI) and inflow rate. However, none of the IPRs in literature is satisfactory for a horizontal fractured well under two-phase conditions. Thomas et al. (1998) presented a method to calculate the IPR for a horizontal well by considering non-Darcy flow effects in terms of an additional skin. Their model integrates a production forecasting dynamic reservoir model, which enables the calculation of the PI over time. However, the innovative skin calculation is for the existing single-phase steady/pseudosteady state models (Joshi 1991; Babu and Odeh 1989; Economides et al. 1996). This indeed suggests that such approach is restricted to singlephase flow only. Retnanto and Economides (1998) presented a generalized dimensionless IPR curve for a horizontal and multilateral well by a nonlinear regression in a similar form to Vogels model (1968). It is specifically useful for a solutiongas drive reservoir. This empirical equation employs a pseudosteady PI proposed by Economides et al. (1996) earlier. Yildiz (2001) presented an analytical IPR curve for a perforated multisegment horizontal well in a 3D anisotropic reservoir. This work focused on the completion damage by calculating the perforation total pseudoskin across different segments of the horizontal well, but again this analytical equation is for single phase flow. Billiter et al. (2001) developed the fundamental IPR for an unfractured, horizontal gas well including non-Darcy effects from the Babu and Odeh (1989) model. Furthermore, with a nonlinear regression, they developed an empirical multivariable-dependent dimensionless IPR curve based upon 384 cases generated by the fundamental IPR. However, this work focused on the gas reservoir only. Wiggins and Wang (2005) presented new forms of generalized IPR for a horizontal well in a solution-gas drive reservoir based on numerical simulation study. Two empirical equations were presented: one is similar to the dimensionless Vogels model for vertical well; the other * Guoqing Han currently holds the faculty position at China University of Petroleum Beijing