Effect of Fracture Length on Well Performance for Inverted Nine Spot Wells

Abstract

Hydraulic fracturing has been used for many years to increase well productivity; and injectivity for many years. This study using reservoir simulation combined with the fracture models, 3D reservoir simulation program (FRACTURE PACKAGE), to study the effect of fracture length in well performance for inverted nine spot wells under constant fracture conductivity and constant reservoir properties for fracture angle of 0; degree and 45 degree. The simulations show that the impact on oil recovery due to hydraulic fracturing can be positive or negative depending on fracture angle for constant injection pressure and fracture conductivity. Unfavorable fracture should be avoided because they can severely restrict both production and sweep improvement. Some wells in the pattern need to be fractured, while other wells have to be without fracture to achieve favorably oriented fractures for the patterns. The term “optimization” in this study is based on maximum production and is not meant to take the place of the proper economic optimization that would consider well spacing, formation thickness, porosity, production, and treatment cost.