Seminar Announcement and Invitation

PETROLEUM ENGINEERING GRADUATE SEMINAR, FALL 2017

Date: Sunday, November 19, 2017@ 16:30 hrs.in Room 4-020
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TRANSVERSE FRACTURE PROPAGATION IN THE PRESENCE OF NATURAL
FRACTURES IN SHALE GAS RESERVOIRS
by
Abhijith Suboyin
Abstract:
Augmented by the recent activities in unconventional reservoirs, it can be easily said that hydraulic fracturing has become a pivotal
component for the successful development of unconventional reservoirs. This thesis deals with the modelling a set of induced hydraulic
fractures in the presence of natural fractures in a shale gas reservoir. In addition, the effect of various fracture properties are investigated
in this study. A discrete fracture network (DFN) based simulator (FracGen and NFflow) is used for this purpose which is further extended
to Petrel for the propagation part of the study. The constructed model integrates a horizontal well with 10 induced hydraulic fractures
and 2 sets of natural fractures in a shale gas reservoir. The interaction, the pressure response and the cumulative gas produced with
respect to changes in fracture properties are investigated.
Multiple experimental and field studies have shown that natural fractures play a significant role in the propagation of hydraulic fractures.
It may intersect a natural fracture, cross through a natural fracture, arrest into a natural fracture or propagate into a stress dependent
direction from the natural fracture after propagation to a short distance. (Lammont and Jessen, 1963; Blanton, 1982; Potluri et al., 2005).
As a result, they profoundly affect the behavior of flow interactions and leads to complications in the reservoir which may result in higher
costs and reduced recoveries.
Even though multiple solutions exist in the industry for modelling the flow behavior and mass transport in a porous media, the most
notable among them being the dual-continuum method and Discrete Fracture Networks (DFN). The Discrete Fracture Network model
solves some of the shortcomings of the dual-continuum method by explicitly modelling the geometry and properties of discrete fractures
as a core component of flow and mass transport.
This study deals with the investigation of DFN methodologies to a shale gas reservoir along with the application of industrial simulators
such as FracGen, NFflow & Eclipse (Petrel) to model and study the behavior of multiple fracture properties along with its response on the
reservoir. The primary objective of this study is to assist in verifying the expected proven behavior with the simulated results. In addition,
the effect of fracture propagation in the presence of a uniform and a stochastic fracture network distribution are investigated and
presented. Further investigation will be done to account for the deviation in the simulation model from the field data.
About the Presenter:
Abhijith Suboyin completed his bachelors degree in Petroleum Engineering from University of Pune in 2014. He then worked for 2 years
as an employee and later as a consultant for Praesagus RTPO (A Sierra-Hamilton Company). He specialized in Production Optimization
and Real-Time analysis. In addition, he has been working/assisting on an upcoming Petroleum Production Software under the same
organization.

His undergraduate senior research was done in Baker-Hughes under the domain on MWD & LWD which concentrated on the current
technologies in the modern industry in addition to exploring areas of the much-needed improvement.