A Novel Approach To Reservoir Simulation of Hydraulic Fractures Performance Improvement Using Pseudo Well Connections - A Lokhandwala Et Al. 2022

SPE-205237-MS
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A Novel Approach to Reservoir Simulation of Hydraulic
Fractures: Performance Improvement Using Pseudo Well Connections
Aamir Lokhandwala, Vaibhav Joshi, and Ankit Dutt, Schlumberger
Copyright 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/205237-MS
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE International Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference & Exhibition, Muscat, Oman, 11 - 13 January 2022.
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
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Abstract
Reservoir simulation is used in most modern reservoir studies to predict future production of oil and gas, and
to plan the development of the reservoir. The number of hydraulically fractured wells has risen drastically
in recent years due to the increase in production in unconventional reservoirs. Gone are the days of using
simple analytic techniques to forecast the production of a hydraulic fracture in a vertical well, and the need
to be able to model multiple hydraulic fractures in many stages over long horizontals is now a common
practice. The type of simulation approach chosen depends on many factors and is study specific. Pseudo
well connection approach was preferred in the current case.
Due to the nature of the reservoir simulation problem, a decision needs to be made to determine which
hydraulic fracture modeling method might be most suitable for any given study. To do this, a selection of
methods is chosen based on what is available at hand, and what is commonly used in various reservoir
simulation software packages. The pseudo well connection method, which models hydraulic fractures as
uniform conductivity rectangular fractures was utilized for a field of interest referred to as Field A in this
paper. Such an assumption of the nature of the hydraulic fracture is common in most modern tools.
Field A is a low permeability (0.01md-0.1md), tight (8% to 12% porosity) gas-condensate (API ~51deg
and CGR~65 stb/mmscf) reservoir at ~3000m depth. Being structurally complex, it has a large number
of erosional features and pinch-outs. The pseudo well connection approach was found to be efficient both
terms of replicating data of Field A for a 10 year period while drastically reducing simulation runtime for
the subsequent 10 year-period too. It helped the subsurface team to test multiple scenarios in a limited time-
frame leading to improved project management.
Introduction to Field A
Field A is a tight gas condensate reservoir comprising of volcanics with basic lava flows (basalts) and
stacked silicic pyroclastic flows (felsic) interbedded with basalts, and an overlying clastic formation. It is a
low permeability (0.01md-0.1md), tight (8% to 12% porosity) gas-condensate (API ~51deg and CGR~65
stb/mmscf) reservoir at ~3000m depth. The average reservoir thickness is ~200m of clastic and ~500m of
volcanic units, with the pay-zone consisting of a poorly sorted sandstone on top of stacked succession of
volcanics.
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Reservoir Characteristics
For the purpose of having an understanding of the reservoir characteristics, below is a table:
Property Min Max Mean
Porosity (%) 0 24 8
Permeability (mD) 0 9 0.35
Vertical Permeability (mD) 0 0.09 0.0035
Net-to-Gross 0 1 0.34
Connate Water Saturation (%) 0.3 0.7 0.6
The volcanic rocks pose a significant challenge in reservoir zone identification and trend prediction.
Variability in mineralogy, lithofacies, thickness of reservoir subunits and areal distributions of pores/vesicles
and fractures results in marked reservoir heterogeneity. The reservoir contains excellent quality gas with
~80% methane, low CO2 and no H2S. At the time of conducting this study, Field A was being developed
using deviated wells with multi-stage hydraulic fracturing.
What presents a challenge in simulating Field A is the structural complexity with a large degree of
heterogeneity both laterally and vertically, and a number of erosional features and pinch-outs. All these
features of Field A lead to the geocelluar model prepared for reservoir simulation to contain many high-
angled cells which typically lead to convergence issues during simulation studies.
SPE-205237-MS 3
Geocellular Model Description
For the purpose of having an understanding of the resolution of the model, below is a table:
Cells (nI × nJ × nK) : 50 × 59 × 138
Total number of active cells: 160K
Average Xinc (m): 110
Average Yinc (m): 110
Average zinc (m): 5
Since the appraisal campaign had successfully validated hydraulic fracturing as a key driver for realizing
Field A's production potential, each well was hydraulically fractured with about an average of 5 to 6 fracture
stages per well. Modified black oil tables were used based on available PVT data. Apart from the rock
properties, analytical relative permeability curves were used to mimic the rock-fluid interactions since no
laboratory data was available for Field A.
It is important to note that the field development for Field A had changed after 5 years from its conception.
The initial plan did not consider stimulation of wells however later testing of appraisal wells completed
with hydraulic fractures confirmed a significant improvement in production potential.
4 SPE-205237-MS
With the reservoir, fluid and well properties defined, the next step was to prepare a field development
plan which successfully replicates a 10-year historical period and helps formulate a 10-year prediction for
the estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) from Field A.
Reservoir Simulation of Hydraulic Fracturing

Simulation models typically discretize the reservoir into grids where each cell can be hundreds of meters in
size. The fundamental assumption is that reservoir properties and fluid behavior are homogeneous within
each cell. While we know that this is only an approximation, it is true to say that the fluid flow over these
length scales is not dominated by the fine scale heterogeneity of the rock, but rather by its overall (averaged)
properties. By contrast, hydraulic fractures form narrow channels in which fluids can travel rapidly and
almost unimpeded over large distances. This means that the homogeneity assumption no longer holds true.
Overview of Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, hydrofracking, and hydrofracturing, is a well stimulation
technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the
high-pressure injection of "fracking fluid" (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants suspended
with the aid of thickening agents) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which
natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the
well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures open.
SPE-205237-MS 5
Hydraulic fracturing began as an experiment in 1947, and the first commercially successful application
followed in 1950. As of 2012, 2.5 million "frac jobs" had been performed worldwide on oil and gas wells,
over one million of those within the U.S. Such treatment is generally necessary to achieve adequate flow
rates in shale gas, tight gas, tight oil, and coal seam gas wells. Some hydraulic fractures can form naturally
in certain veins or dikes. Drilling and hydraulic fracturing have made the United States a major crude
oil exporter as of 2019, but leakage of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, has dramatically increased.
Increased oil and gas production from the decade-long fracking boom has led to lower prices for consumers,
with near-record lows of the share of household income going to energy expenditures.
Hydraulic fracturing involves safely tapping shale and other tight-rock formations by drilling a mile or
more below the surface before gradually turning horizontal and continuing several thousand feet more. Thus,
a single surface site can accommodate a number of wells. Once the well is drilled, cased and cemented,
small perforations are made in the horizontal portion of the well pipe, through which a typical mixture of
water (90 percent), sand (9.5 percent) and additives (0.5 percent) is pumped at high pressure to create micro-
fractures in the rock that are held open by the grains of sand. Additives play a number of roles, including
helping to reduce friction (thereby reducing the amount of pumping pressure from diesel-powered sources,
which reduces air emissions) and prevent pipe corrosion, which in turn help protect the environment and
boost well efficiency.
Even in its most basic form, hydraulic fracturing is a complicated process to model, as it involves the
coupling of at least three processes: (i) the mechanical deformation induced by the fluid pressure on the
fracture surfaces; (ii) the flow of fluid within the fracture; and (iii) the fracture propagation. Usually, the
solid (rock) deformation is modeled using the theory of linear elasticity, which is represented by an integral
equation that determines the non-local relationship between the fracture width and the fluid pressure. The
fluid flow is modeled using lubrication theory, represented by a non-linear partial differential equation that
relates the fluid flow velocity, the fracture width and the gradient of pressure. The criterion for fracture
propagation, on the other hand, is usually given by the conventional energy-release rate approach of linear
elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) theory (i.e., the fracture propagates if the stress intensity factor at the
tip matches the rock toughness).
Additional complications to this already challenging coupled problem can be easily envisaged by taking
into consideration the conditions in which "real" hydraulic fractures occur; for example, the presence of
layers of different types of rock (even if these layers are assumed to be parallel); changes in magnitude
and/or orientation of the in situ confining stresses; the presence of a nearby free surface (of importance in
the modeling of magma-driven dykes and in caving applications in mining); the leak-off of fracturing fluid
from the fracture to the surrounding rock (or the invasion of reservoir fluid from the rock into the fracture),
which is a history-dependent process; the effects of shear and temperature on the fracturing fluid rheology;
the transport of suspended proppant particles within the fracture (of primary importance for oil and gas
reservoir stimulations), and modeling of fracture recession and closure (due to termination of pumping,
forced flowback, or rapid geometric changes in one region as fractures herniate into other lower stress
zones).
General Concept of Hydraulic Fracture Simulation

In reservoir simulation, a hydraulic fracture can be classified as a well event where the hydraulic
fractures are modeled by changing connected cell transmissibility, pore volume multipliers, and cell-based
transmissibility multipliers. These events modify the connection factors that intersect the hydraulic fracture
in addition to the transmissibility multipliers in the x, y, and z direction for the regions that are located
around the hydraulic fracture. The inter-cell and well-cell transmissibility multipliers are calculated. Also
calculated is the ratio of hydraulic fracture width to fracture cell width, a factor which is used to scale the
pore volume of the cells where the hydraulic fracture is located to get a better representation of the actual
width of the hydraulic fracture.
6 SPE-205237-MS
Shown below is a typical hydraulic fracturing setup with multiple fracture stages. These individual
stages are modelled as simple rectangular fractures of uniform conductivity in the pseudo well connection
approach.
Pseudo Well Connection Approach
As the name suggests, this approach utilizes a system of generating pseudo (false, and in this case additional)
well connections to simulate hydraulic fractures. The additional connections to the well are created
everywhere in the model wherein the hydraulic fracture of that well exists. An analytical-empirical method
is used to calculate the cell connection factor (CCF) via a dimensionless productivity index calculation.
This calculation is based on the works of Economides et al.
Description
Based on the work of Economides et al, shown below are the cells of the reservoir model which intersect the
fracture plane as defined by the fracture geometry which are added to the well as pseudo well connections
SPE-205237-MS 7
to represent the productivity improvement associated with the fracture. Due to these additional connections
between the well and the reservoir, productivity boost is simuated. The main advantage is the possibility
to specify the fracture parameters in explicit form without a simulation grid. The main disadvantage is the
analytical-empirical approach to the definition of the dimensionless opening ratio, where the drainage radius
is one of the required calculation parameters.
This is implemented by generating additional connections based on fracture planes following the work of
Economides et al for black oil simulation models. Cells of the reservoir model which intersect the fracture
plane as defined by the fracture geometry are added to the well as pseudo well connections to represent the
productivity improvement associated with the fracture. The figure below shows the fracture plane and the
corresponding additional blocks added as pseudo well connections for this particular well of interest.
Parameters Involved
The cell factor calculation is based on the below parameters:
• fracture geometry
• fracture permeability
• rock and proppant permeability
• and drainage radius
Below figure shows the required parameters that need to be specified for the generation of pseudo well
connections of the respective hydraulic fracture being simulated:
8 SPE-205237-MS
Pseudo Well Connection Simulation Results of Field A
A history match of a 10-year production period for Field A was attempted by both the techniques deemed
feasible for being used - local grid refinements (LGRs) and pseudo well connection factors. The simulation
was run on gas rate control and the available tubing head pressure (THP) data for Field A was used. The
results were based on two factors – accuracy of result and time taken.
Accuracy of Results
The productivity multipliers for the wells were tweaked to match the rates and well-level pressures. A single
VFP curve was taken for all the wells which helps explain some outliers in the result. At the end of the day,
all models are wrong – but some are useful. This study intended to produce a useful model which could
be tweaked as required.
As can be seen below for a subgroup of 20 wells of Field A, the trend in THP is suitably captured and is
in agreement with the observed data. The X-axis shows the time in years from 0-10.
SPE-205237-MS 9
The mismatch in observed oil production was reduced by 11%. Uncertainty in calibration of fracture
parameters was also considered. The accuracy of the results was improved using the pseudo well connection
approach for Field A.
Run-time Efficiency
The runtime in the study was found to be drastically reduced as compared to the local grid refinement
approach using the same amount of computing power. The runtime reduced was found was ~10x as
compared to the local grid refinement approach using the novel approach as shown below.
10 SPE-205237-MS
Conclusions
There are multiple methods in the industry to model hydraulic fractures in a reservoir simulation study. In the
case of Field A, the pseudo well connection approach worked well enabling the team to bypass convergence
issues in simulation using regular hydraulic fracture simulation methods. Also, the approach was found to
be efficient both terms of replicating field data for a 10-year period while drastically reducing simulation
runtime for the subsequent 10 year-period too. It helped the subsurface team to test multiple scenarios in a
limited time-frame leading to improved project management.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Rajat Goyal (Well Stimulation Expert at
Schlumberger) for the insightful and engaging feedback and discussions during the project timeframe. They
would also like to thank the Schlumberger management for their approval to present this paper at the IHFTC
conference.
References
H. Sadrpanah, T. Charles and J. Fulton, 2006. Explicit Simulation of Multiple Hydraulic Fractures in Horizontal Wells.
SPE Europed/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition. SPE-99575-MS.
Khalil Rahman, Wei He, Feng Gui, 2014. Reservoir Simulation with Hydraulic Fractures: Does it Really Matter How We
Model Fractures?. SPE Asia Pacific Conference and Exhibition. SPE-171403-MS.
Pedro Saldungaray and Terry T. Palisch, 2012. Hydraulic Fracture Optimization in Unconventional Reservoirs. SPE
Middle East Unconventional Gas Conference and Exhibition. SPE-151128-MS.
A. Lokhandwala, V. Joshi and A. Dutt, 2021. Utilizing Pseudo Well Connections To Simulate Multi-Stage Hydraulic
Fracturing - Example Based On The Study Of A Tight Gas Asset. International Petroleum Technology Conference.
SPE-21318-MS.
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of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences. Volume 44, Issue 5, July 2007, Pages 739–757
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C.L. Cipolla, M.J. Williams, X. Weng, M. Mack, and S. Maxwell, 2010. Hydraulic Fracture Monitoring to Reservoir
Simulation: Maximizing Value. SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. SPE-133877-MS.
Curtis H. Whitson, Pera, Øivind Fevang and Aud Sævareid, 1999. Gas Condensate Relative Permeability for Well
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Øivind Fevang and Curtis H. Whitson, 1995. Modeling Gas Condensate Well Deliverability. SPE Annual Technical
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SPE-205237-MS

Aamir Lokhandwala, Vaibhav Joshi, and Ankit Dutt, Schlumberger

Copyright 2022, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/205237-MS

Property Min Max Mean

Permeability (mD) 0 9 0.35

Vertical Permeability (mD) 0 0.09 0.0035

Connate Water Saturation (%) 0.3 0.7 0.6

Cells (nI × nJ × nK) : 50 × 59 × 138

Total number of active cells: 160K

Average Xinc (m): 110

Average Yinc (m): 110

Average zinc (m): 5

Reservoir Simulation of Hydraulic Fracturing

Overview of Hydraulic Fracturing

General Concept of Hydraulic Fracture Simulation

• rock and proppant permeability

• and drainage radius

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