An integrated approach to the design and evaluation of hydraulic fracture treatments in tight gas and coalbed methane reservoirs

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive approach to the design of hydraulic fracture treatments which takes into account anisotropic stress conditions, rock properties and the effect of pore pressure changes due to production in tight gas reservoirs. This has allowed us, among others, to design a refracture treatment. Our poroelastic model is also coupled with a production optimization scheme to optimize the design parameters for hydraulic fracture treatments. In this paper, we present the results of a study carried out in a tight gas reservoir. Our study has shown that the fracture treatment can be successfully optimized to increase the NPV and/or ultimate gas recovery. We also demonstrated through this study that a second fracture treatment can be carried out after a period of production from the same treated interval to maintain production without drilling additional wells. Copyright 2006, Society of Petroleum Engineers