Porothermoelastic response of an oil sand formation subjected to injection and micro-fracturing in horizontal wells

Stimulation of unconsolidated formations via horizontal wells has seen its vast implementation in the recent development of heavy oil reservoir to save the time and cost of preheating the reservoir before the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process. A mathematical approach was proposed in thi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Petroleum science 2020-06, Vol.17 (3), p.687-700
Main Authors: Lin, Botao, Meng, Han, Pan, Jingjun, Chen, Sen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Communication
Convection
Dilation
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Economics and Management
Energy Policy
Fracturing
Gravity
Heating
Horizontal wells
Industrial and Production Engineering
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Injection
Microcracks
Mineral Resources
Oil reservoirs
Oil sands
Optimization
Original Paper
Permeability
Pore pressure
Pore water pressure
Porosity
Reservoirs
Sandstone
Sedimentary rocks
Steam
Water wells
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Summary:Stimulation of unconsolidated formations via horizontal wells has seen its vast implementation in the recent development of heavy oil reservoir to save the time and cost of preheating the reservoir before the steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) process. A mathematical approach was proposed in this research that fully couples the hydraulic, mechanical and thermal responses of unconsolidated sandstone formations and also applies failure criteria for describing either shear dilation or tensile parting mechanism that generates microcracks. The approach was implemented to predict the porothermoelastic response of a pair of SAGD wells subject to injection and subsequent micro-fracturing using hot water. It was found that the predicted bottom hole pressures (BHPs) match closely with the field observed data. An elliptical dilation zone developed around the dual wells with relatively high pore pressure, porosity, permeability and temperature, implying good interwell hydraulic communication between both wells. The activation of microcracks dramatically accelerated the dissipation of pore pressure across the entire formation depth and also facilitated heat convection in between the dual wells, though to a lesser extent. In summary, the approach provides a convenient means to assist field engineers in the optimization of injection efficiency and evaluation of interference among multiple horizontal wells.
ISSN:1672-5107
1995-8226
DOI:10.1007/s12182-019-00420-1