SPE-186043-MS

An Integrated Study to Characterize and Model Natural Fracture Networks of

Gas Condensate Carbonate Reservoirs, Onshore Abu Dhabi, UAE

Budour Ateeq, Mohamed El Gohary, Khalid Al Ammari, and Rashad Masoud, ADCO; Abdelwahab Noufal, ADNOC;
Ghislain de Joussineau and Martin Weber, Beicip Franlab; Dinesh Agrawal, IFP Middle East Consulting

Copyright 2017, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Reservoir Characterisation and Simulation Conference and Exhibition held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 08-10 May 2017.

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
Natural fractures can have a significant impact on fluid flow by creating permeability anisotropy in
hydrocarbon reservoirs. They can also play an undesirable role on reservoir subsidence and compaction
during depletion, with important consequences for production strategy and well and surface facility
equipment. The investigation of these possible fracture effects motivated a comprehensive integrated
fracture study of three reservoirs from a giant gas-condensate field in Abu Dhabi. The main objective of the
study was to build representative 3D fracture models and compute fracture properties of each reservoir, to
be used in future accurate dynamic simulations. The results of the fracture study were also used to define
the risk associated with the geomechanical integrity of the reservoirs.
The integrated workflow included several approaches, all contributing towards the global understanding
of the fracture distribution and flow impact in the reservoirs. The static fracture characterization involved
detailed seismic inversion and fracture characterization, core and borehole image analysis. It focused on
the identification of the fracture components occurring in the reservoirs and their geometrical properties
and spatial distribution. This was complemented by a study of the well dynamic data (e.g. fluid injection/
production data, well tests, flowmeters, static pressure data), carried out to evaluate the dynamic impact
of the fractures by identifying wells showing anomalous dynamic behaviors. The integration of static and
dynamic data allowed the identification and quantification of which fracture components played a role on
fluid flow in the reservoirs.
The results of the static and dynamic data analysis were integrated to develop a 3D Discrete Fracture
Network (DFN) model of each reservoir, reflecting the fracture organization identified during the
characterization stage. The hydraulic properties of fractures (aperture and conductivity) were determined
using flowmeter and well test data. The calibrated fracture models were then upscaled as to compute
equivalent fracture properties (fracture porosity, permeability tensor and equivalent matrix block sizes or
shape factors) to be used in further full-field reservoir simulation models.
The results of the study concluded that the reservoirs are dominated by the presence of large scale fracture
corridors that were modelled deterministically in the DFNs based on the integration of well and seismic data.
There is also a negligible, unconnected small scale diffuse fracturing in the reservoirs, with no flow impact.
2 SPE-186043-MS

The fluid production is mainly controlled by matrix support with very limited contribution from fracture
corridors. Finally, the very limited fracturing detected suggests no major risk in terms of reservoir integrity.
The integrated study carried out allowed the development of accurate, consistent fracture models for
the three studied reservoirs. The uncertainty associated with the fractures and their impact was properly
addressed, allowing building better field development plans and defining risk-free reservoir depletion
strategies.

Introduction
The studied reservoirs are gas-condensate-bearing in a carbonate field, located onshore Abu Dhabi. The
field has an anticlinal structure and consists of a series of stacked reservoirs among which three reservoirs
(Reservoir-A, Reservoir-B and Reservoir-C) were part of this study. For each reservoir, the production
comes mainly from the large gas bearing area above the gas-oil contact, which is surrounded by a thin
peripheric oil rim. The reservoirs are divided into several subunits separated by thin non-permeable zones,
with varying petrophysical properties. The average porosity of these subunits varies from 7% to 24% while
their average permeability is in the range of 0.6 to 20 mD. Table 1 lists these petrophysical properties and
details the well data available for the study.

Table 1—Petrophysical parameters and well data availability

Average Average
Total Average Production
Reservoir Porosity of Permeability of Static Data Dynamic Data
Thickness (ft) history (years)
subunits (%) subunits (mD)

105 active wells, 14

3-D seismic, 1954 ft of core
A 80 7-24 0.6-20 30 PLTs, 30 well tests, 96
& BHI data from 15 wells
wells with pressure data

35 active wells, 12
3-D seismic, 1038 ft of core
B 46 10-12 4-7 20 PLTs, 20 well tests, 35
& BHI data from 8 wells
wells with Pressure data

29 active wells, 4 PLTs,

3-D seismic, 770 ft of core
C 51 17 14 16 5 well tests, 20 wells
& BHI data from 7 wells
with pressure data

The studied field has a long production history and one of the three reservoirs, Reservoir-A, has produced
oil and gas for 30 years. Minor fracturing was observed during routine core analyses in the past but a
comprehensive fracture characterization at the field scale was never carried out. Because fractures may have
a major bearing on production and could play a significant role on rock compaction and collapse during
reservoir depletion in the field, it was important to ascertain the risk related to the geomechanical stability of
these reservoirs due to the presence of natural fracture networks in the system. This motivated an integrated
fracture study to determine the properties of the fracture networks in these reservoir units and derive a
consistent and accurate fracture model and the corresponding fracture properties.

Workflow
An integrated workflow was applied in order to characterize properly the fracture distribution and flow
impact in the reservoirs. The characterization of fracture networks occurring in these reservoir units was
based on the integration of static and dynamic data which included several approaches, all contributing
towards understanding the distribution of fractures, their intensity and impact on the fluid flow dynamics.
This was followed by building a 3D fracture model (DFN), dynamic calibration, upscaling and computation
of full field equivalent fracture properties. The final output of the workflow was a dynamic model populated
SPE-186043-MS 3

with both matrix and fracture properties. Figure 1 illustrates the integrated workflow consisting of the
following key steps described in the subsequent sections:

Figure 1—Integrated workflow used in the study.

• Fracture characterization from 3D seismic data and subsequent detection of fracture corridors;

• Fracture characterization from core data;

• Fracture characterization from borehole image data;

4 SPE-186043-MS

• Fracture characterization from well dynamic data;

• Conceptual fracture model;

• Building of a 3D fracture model (DFN);

• Dynamic calibration of DFN using flowmeter and well test data;

• Upscaling and computation of equivalent fracture properties for the simulation grid using calibrated
DFN model.

Static Fracture Characterization

Fracture characterization using the seismic data initiated the workflow and was followed by the
interpretation of fractures from the borehole images and the core data. Together, these processes helped
identifying the fracture components and their spatial distribution in the studied reservoirs. The sections
below briefly describe the various aspects of the static data analyses carried out, illustrated by suitable
examples.

Fracture characterization from 3D seismic data

This task was performed to detect the seismic and the subseismic faults and fracture corridors within the
three studied reservoirs. Seismic fracture facies maps and fracture index maps were created based on post-
stack discontinuity attributes (curvature, polar dip, or similarity) computed from the inverted seismic cube.
The inversion process carried out significantly improved the seismic resolution and the advanced method
used to compute the coherency based seismic attributes ensured the robustness and high quality of the results.
The analysis carried out allowed detecting large scale fracture corridors with a high precision. Two types
of fracture lineaments were mapped based on the intensity and the continuity of the fracture index traces:
a) High Confidence Lineaments, and b) Low Confidence Lineaments. These lineaments were grouped into
two sets: a dominant WNW-ESE striking set and a NE-SW striking set. These corridors were consistent
with the original seismic fault interpretation in terms of trend and global position of the largest fault zone.
A strong initial fault interpretation was indentified at top Reservoir-A level whereas fault underestimation
was noted at top Reservoir-C level. The fracture corridors identified from the seismic characterization task
formed a key input for the dynamic fracture characterization and fracture modeling.

Fracture characterization from cores

A total of 3762 ft of core distributed in the different regions of the field were examined for fracture analysis
purposes. The key objectives were: 1) to characterize different types of fractures occurring in the reservoirs;
2) to validate the fracture dataset obtained from the borehole image analysis; 3) to gain insights into the
density of fractures, and; 4) to identify the potential impact on fluid flow. The results obtained from the core
data analysis revealed that the fracturing in all three reservoirs is moderate and dominated by short stylolite
related fractures. Tectonic fractures are very rare, suggesting the absence of connected diffuse fracturing in
these reservoirs. The global statistics of all the fractures identified from the cores are given in Figure 2. The
degree of fracturing is very low and rather homogeneous between the wells. No clear relationship to the
anticline structure of the field or the distance to the faults could be determind.
SPE-186043-MS 5

Figure 2—Global statistics: fracture distribution per typology interpreted from the core analysis

Fracture characterization from borehole images

Borehole images (BHI) were used to characterize the fracture networks, in terms of fracture components
(small scale diffuse fracturing and large scale fracture corridors), fracture properties (orientation, dip angle
and density of fracture families) and distribution. BHI intepretations were consistent with the core data.
Fracturing in the reservoirs was found to be moderate and dominated by fracture corridors related to the
faults. The corridors mainly have dominant WNW-ESE and NE-SW trends and their width is typically
small. Four sets of small scale diffuse fracturing were also detected with NE-SW, NW-SE, EW and NS
orientations (Figure 3). These sets exhibit very low density values ranging between 0.001 and 0.042 frac/ft
(Figure 4) and cannot form connected networks, suggesting no major impact on the fluid flow.

Figure 3—Global statistics of the diffuse fractures showing the fracture trends and dips for a.) Reservoir-A, b.) Reservoir-
B, and c.) Reservoir-C, respectively. The different colors of the poles on the Schmidt Lower Diagrams represent different
types of fractures identified on BHI: conductive or resistive fractures that could be either continuous or discontinuous.
The trend lines on the Strike Diagrams represent the directions of the two primary diffuse fracture sets for each reservoir.
6 SPE-186043-MS

Figure 4—Mean density values for the different diffuse fracture sets identified in the three reservoirs.

Geomechanical Analysis & BHI. The geomechanical response of fractures to the present day in-situ stress
conditions was studied using the BHI data (e.g. fracture plane geometries and positions) and geomechanical
data (e.g. orientations and magnitudes of maximum and minimum horizontal stress, and magnitude of
vertical stress and pore pressure). The normal (σN) and tangential (τ) stresses acting on the fracture planes
were computed and used in a Mohr Coulomb failure model. Fractures can be considered critically stressed
(i.e. reactivated and potentially conductive) only if τ > μ*σN + Co (where μ is the friction coefficient and
Co is the cohesion). The results from testing reveal the absence of critically stressed fractures, indicating
no significant impact on the flow dynamics and reservoir integrity (Figure 5).

Figure 5—Example of geomechanical analysis carried out in Reservoir-A, showing the absence
of critically stressed fractures under In-Situ conditions (fractures plot below the failure curve).

Fracture Drivers Analysis. Fracture drivers (e.g. matrix porosity, bed thickness, fault presence,) are
parameters that control the distribution of fractures (small scale diffuse fractures and large scale fracture
lineaments) in the reservoirs. Since there is a very limited diffuse fracturing in the studied reservoirs, only
the distribution of fracture corridors was investigated. The fracture clusters identified along the wells during
the BHI analysis were compared with the traces of nearby faults and lineaments picked from the seismic
and seismic attribute maps. There is generally, a good correlation in terms of both location and orientation.
SPE-186043-MS 7

This is illustrated in Figure 6 that shows a fracture cluster identified from BHI analysis in one horizontal
well in the Reservoir-A. This well is located about 100 ft from a high confidence lineament picked from the
seismic. The orientation of the fractures forming the cluster correlates well with the trend of the lineament,
indicating that the fracture cluster identified on BHI corresponds to the damage zone of the seismic feature.
This data indicated that the width of the damage zone (fracture corridors) is between 100-300 ft.

Figure 6—Fracture cluster identified on BHI and its direct correspondence

to a nearby seismic lineament crossed by a horizontal well in Reservoir-A.

Dynamic Fracture Characterization

The objective of this work was to find evidences of fractures influencing the fluid flow in the reservoirs
and relate this to the different fracture components (diffuse fracturing and fracture corridors) occurring
in the reservoir. The dynamic characterization carried out used dynamic data, e.g. production, pressure,
well test, and flowmeter data. It was done in close integration with the seismic, core and borehole image
studies. Results obtained showed consistent evidence that the production in the three studied reservoirs was
controlled by the matrix, with a limited contribution of fractures associated to the lineaments. No impact of
small scale diffuse fracturing was detected, consistent with the static data interpretation. The sections below
briefly describe the various aspects of the dynamic data analysis with suitable examples.

Production Data Analysis

The analysis of the historical production and injection rates identified wells with anomalous behavior
attributable to the presence of conductive fractures. These wells could have one or a combination of the
following characteristics:

• A higher than average production or injection rate;

• A higher than average water cut or water-gas ratio;

8 SPE-186043-MS

• An early water or gas breakthrough;

• An abnormal condensate gas ratio (CGR) for wells in the gas cap, a higher GOR for wells in the
oil rim.
A detailed analysis of the production behavior from anomalous wells was performed to determine the
potential influence of fractures. An example of wells showing production anomalies is presented in Figure
7. Results of the data analysis revealed that the wells with production anomalies represent only a small
fraction of all wells having production data. This suggests that the field is only marginally influenced by
fractures. These anomalies were compared with other evidences of fractures in a synthesis to conclude on
the fluid flow impact of fractures.

Figure 7—Example of anomalous wells identified on cross-plots of production data. a) Cumulative water vs.
gas production for gas wells in Reservoir-A: highlighted wells show higher than average water production.
b) Cumulative oil vs. gas production for gas wells in Reservoir-B: highlighted well shows abnormally
high condensate production and high CGR. c) GOR vs. production time for gas wells in Reservoir-A:
highlighted wells show abnormally high gas production and early dry "gas" breakthrough. d) Cumulative
gas vs. oil production for oil wells in Reservoir-C: highlighted wells have an abnormally high GOR.

Flowmeter/PLT Data Analysis

Production logs from flowmeter surveys were analyzed in order to characterize the possible flow
contribution from fractures. PLT analysis detected intervals with maximum rates and allowed correlation of
these intervals to a high density of fractures interpreted from BHI, or interpreted fracture lineaments. The
overall results suggested no clear evidence of strong fracture or fault influence. No major discontinuities
were identified from production logs. An example is presented in Figure 8, where two small peaks were
identified on the production log of a horizontal well (from Reservoir-A) that crosses two lineaments
belonging to the major fault system of the field. These peaks could be related to the fracture lineaments;
SPE-186043-MS 9

however, the location and relative contribution to the total production in the well indicated moderate fault
influence on the flow.

Figure 8—Production log, matrix permeability and a 3D view of a

horizontal well from Reservoir-A showing moderate fault influence.

Pressure Data Analysis

Pressure data (static pressure and RFTs) was analyzed in order to look for possible evidence of fracture
connectivity and compartmentalization in the studied reservoirs. In the case of very good fracture
connectivity, wells should all have the same static pressure through time, even if they are not in the same
location. Compartmentalization is observed when wells that are close to each other have very different static
pressure regimes that cannot be explained by matrix effects alone.
Static pressures in the studied reservoirs are quite homogeneous and evolve in a very similar manner in
all wells within each reservoir. They are also quite close to each other indicating rather good communication
between all wells, due to either homogeneous depletion, homogeneous and good matrix permeability or a
connected fracture network. However, no two wells have exactly the same pressure at a given date indicating
no extreme communication as is sometimes observed in extremely fractured formations.

Well Test Data Analysis

Well test interpretation is an essential part of the fracture characterization process. Signatures on the
diagnostic plots can be indicators of presence of diffuse fractures (dual porosity response and very high
dynamic KH value) and sealing or conductive fractures either crossing the well (linear flow regime during
early time) or located at a given distance (constant pressure boundary signature). All available well tests
data were reviewed in order to obtain reliable permeability-thickness (KH) values and identify fracture
related signatures.
Several well tests showed no clear evidence of full thickness radial flow, bringing huge uncertainty in
the interpretation of KH values. This was especially seen in horizontal wells where a long buildup time is
required for radial flow to start developing on the diagnostic plot. Advanced methods like deconvolution
10 SPE-186043-MS

were applied for few wells having variable rate and pressure records in order to obtain a derivative response
with a large radius of investigation. This helped interpreting the dynamic KH values with higher confidence.
Few vertical well tests in Reservoir-A depicted radial composite signatures that were related to the presence
of liquid condensate near the well bottom. There were generally no specific signatures related to fractures
that could be identified from well test data. Three wells from Reservoir-B showed presence of hydraulic
fractures from the well test signature. These wells are located close to or cross the major fault system of the
field (Figure 9). The analysis of well-B1 yielded good confidence fracture signature while the remaining
two interpretations were of lower confidence. The pressure and the pressure derivative plot of well-B1 with
the characteristic slopes corresponding to the bilinear and linear flows due to fractures are presented in
Figure 10.

Figure 9—Location of Reservoir-B wells showing conductive fracture signature from the well tests.

Figure 10—Well test pressure and pressure derivative on log-log plot for Well-B1 showing the characteristic quarter
and half slopes related to the bilinear and linear flows respectively associated with a hydraulic conductive fracture.

Permeability Study. Fractures enhance the local permeability by assisting flow; and contributing to well test
KH. When the ratio between the well test KH and the static KH (calculated from core or static permeability)
is greater than 10, it is almost certain that fractures contribute significantly to the total flow (Narr et al.,
2006). Figure 11 presents a cross plot of the reliable dynamic KH values derived from the well tests and the
static KH values derived from the petrophysical characterization for the three reservoirs. It can clearly be
seen that most of the wells show low values of the KH-test/KH-static ratio, close to one, indicating absence
SPE-186043-MS 11

of conductive fractures in these reservoirs. A few wells show slightly higher KH ratio values suggesting the
possibility of a limited dynamic impact of fractures.

Figure 11—Cross-plot of dynamic KH (from well test) versus static KH (from petrophysical characterization).

Synthesis
In order to assess the dynamic impact of the fractures in the studied reservoirs, synthesis was developed
to combine the information obtained from dynamic analyses (production, pressure, flowmeters, well tests
and KH ratio) and compare with the static evidence from the seismic, core and BHI studies. The following
criteria that indicate fracture influence were considered:

• A high KH ratio (KH-test/ KH-static);

• The presence of irregularities on the well production logs (PLTs);

• Well test signatures indicating fractures;

• High fracture density computed from BHI;

• A production anomaly like early breakthrough or high rates;

• An evidence of communication from the pressure data.

The conclusions obtained from the synthesis were consistent with those from the static analysis. Both
interpreted an absence of connected diffuse fracturing and a moderate impact of the faults on production.
All dynamic data (e.g. KH ratio, maximum/mean production rates, GOR, cumulative production) was then
compared to the distance to the nearest fault which indicated no clear relationship (see Figure 12). Wells
close to the faults have similar values of the dynamic parameters compared to the wells located far away
from the faults, confirming the limited extent of the dynamic influence of lineaments in the field.
12 SPE-186043-MS

Figure 12—Cross plot of KH ratio (KH-test/KH-static) versus distance to the closest fault in Reservoir-A

Fracture Modelling
Conceptual Fracture Model
A conceptual model is a simple representation of fracture and fault distribution in the studied reservoirs
based on the integration of all information obtained during the static and dynamic analyses. This model
includes all the fracture components, their geometrical and statistical properties and therefore forms a
basis for further fracture modeling. Since the main fault system of the studied field crosscut all the three
reservoirs, the following stratigraphy was used in the proposed conceptual model, which is common to the
three reservoirs:

• Reservoir-A;

• The tight unit between Reservoir-A and Reservoir-B;

• Reservoir-B;

• The tight unit between Reservoir-B and Reservoir-X (not included in the study);

• The Reservoir-X (not studied in details but controlled during the core analysis);

• The tight unit between Reservoir-X and Reservoir-C;

• Finally, Reservoir-C.

Figure 13 depicts the conceptual model with narrow fault related corridors dominantly oriented WNW-
ESE, with typical segmented geometries and extremely rare diffuse fractures. Fracturing in this field is
dominated by largescale fracture corridors (lineament network of high and low confidence detected on the
seismic attributes) with a dominant WNW-ESE orientation. From a geological point of view, because of
thin reservoir units, the larger fracture corridors have a vertical continuity from the top of the Reservoir-A
unit to the base of the Reservoir-C unit. The fracture corridors associated with faults have a total maximum
width of 100-300 ft, which is less than or equal to the horizontal size of the grid cells in the 3D reservoir grid.
SPE-186043-MS 13

Figure 13—Conceptual fracture model.

3-D Fracture Modelling (DFN)

Using the understanding built through the conceptual model, a 3D Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model
was generated using a deterministic approach based on the lineaments picked on the seismic attributes and
controlled at wells. Since the diffuse fracturing identified is too scattered to form connected networks and
has no dynamic impact on the fluid flow, small scale diffuse fractures were not included in the 3D fracture
model of the reservoirs. Only the large scale fracture corridors, with a limited flow impact, were modelled.
Using this fracture model, it was possible to quantify the impact of fractures on the dynamic properties of
the reservoirs and compute the equivalent properties for the dynamic grid (fracture porosity, permeability
tensor and matrix block sizes; Cacas et al., 2001; Bourbiaux et al., 2002; Ding et al., 2003; Bourbiaux et
al., 2005; Fonta et al., 2005).
Two DFN models were created for each reservoir, based on the two degrees of confidence of the
interpreted lineaments. The first fracture model was composed of the high confidence lineaments,
representing the base case model. The second fracture model was composed of the high confidence and
low confidence lineaments, representing an alternative model. An example is shown in Figure 14 which
presents the alternative fracture model in 3D view for Reservoir-A.

Figure 14—Alternative fracture model in 3D view for Reservoir-A.

14 SPE-186043-MS

Dynamic Fracture Calibration

The fracture calibration is the final step of the fracture modeling process and consists of using dynamic data
to derive the hydraulic properties of the fractures (aperture and conductivity) present in the fracture model.
The standard method to perform this calibration is to use dynamic KH values interpreted from several well
tests and adjust the fracture conductivity values to match them. For this purpose, it was necessary to identify
the contribution of the fracture system to the dynamic KH.
In Reservoir-A, none of the well tests confirmed a clear evidence of fracture system contribution to the
total dynamic KH. Therefore, the fracture model calibration was done using the flowmeter data of one of
the wells where a production peak was associated to an interpreted fault lineament (second peak located
150 ft away from a lineament in Figure 8). Figure 15 shows the cumulative production and matrix grid
permeability log around this fault. The matrix and fault contribution to the total flow rate in this fault zone
were calculated and used in the conductivity equation. Figure 16 explains the principle of estimating fracture
conductivity from flowmeter data using an equation derived from the Darcy law (see Equation 1):

Equation 1: Fault conductivity derived from Darcy Law

Where:
CF : fault conductivity
L : length of measurement (homogeneous facies)
KM : average matrix permeability
QM : total matrix rate
QF : fault rate

Figure 15—Production log and matrix permeability around the production

peak attributed to the fault and used for model calibration of Reservoir-A.
SPE-186043-MS 15

Figure 16—Principle of fault conductivity estimation using flowmeter data.

The fault lineament observed on the seismic data corresponds to a cluster of fractures occurring over a
short distance in the BHI interpretation. Based on the fracture density value computed in the cluster and
the estimated cluster width, it was considered that the cluster was composed of 50 fractures. The average
aperture of each of these individual fractures was calculated using the Poiseuille's Law as given below
(Equation 2):

Equation 2: Poiseuille's Law

Where:
C : fracture conductivity in mD.m
e : fracture aperture in mm
The model calibration resulted in fault conductivity values between 13,800 and 22,800 mD.ft. This range
was related to the uncertainty in calculating the representative average matrix permeability around the fault
peak. The corresponding average aperture size was between 0.10 and 0.12 mm per fracture or between 5
mm and 6 mm for the complete fault lineament. These values are in agreement with the limited dynamic
impact of the fracture lineament.
In Reservoir-B, there was no reference KH values coming from the well tests and there were no
production peaks attributable to fractures. Three wells showed presence of hydraulic fractures in the well
test data (see Figures 9 and 10). The conductivity of the fracture was calibrated using the analysis in well-
B1 that interpreted a conductive fracture with a fault conductivity of 33400 mD.ft. The fracture aperture
was calculated using the Poiseuille's Law and the value was 0.13 mm for an individual fracture and 6.7 mm
for the fault corridor, stll assuming the corridor to be a cluster of 50 sub-parallel individual fractures.
I|n Reservoir-C, none of the wells tests had a clear indication of fracture influence and none of the
flowmeters showed any production peak related to fractures. The model was calibrated using the fracture
attributes of Reservoir-A as analogue. A fault conductivity of 13800 mD.ft and a fault aperture of 5 mm
were used in the fracture model of Reservoir-C.

Fracture Upscaling
Fracture upscaling was performed to compute full field equivalent parameters of the fracture networks at the
grid cell scale, in order to use them in a reservoir simulation model. The parameters were computed for two
types of reservoir simulation: a standard single porosity simulation in which fracture and matrix properties
are combined together, and; a dual porosity simulation for which flow in the matrix and fracture media are
simulated separately. In both cases, the process computed the fracture permeability tensor (i.e. permeability
in all three directions) and fracture porosity, which are added to the matrix values in the single porosity
case, while they are kept separate in the dual porosity situation. For the dual porosity case, an additional
16 SPE-186043-MS

property called shape factor (in all three directions) was also computed and represents the fracture network
geometry. It is used to derive matrix fracture exchanges during the simulation.
The Oda Analytical Method (Oda, 1985) which provides good results in connected diffuse fracture
networks and large scale features (e.g. fracture lineaments) was used for the upscaling of the three fracture
models. Four upscaling computations were performed for each reservoir in this study:

• One for each lineament network configuration (high confidence lineaments plus high and low
confidence lineaments;
• For each of the above two scenarios, the upscaling was performed for a single porosity simulation
model (matrix and fracture together) and a dual porosity simulation model (matrix and fractures
separate).

Conclusions
An integrated workflow for fracture characterization and modelling of three gas condensate bearing
reservoirs from a onshore field in Abu Dhabi, UAE, is presented. The fracture networks occurring in the
studied reservoirs were characterized using core, borehole image, 3D seismic and dynamic data.
The fracture characterization on 3D seismic data allowed the detection of large scale fractured zones in
the studied reservoirs. The description of fractures on cores, performed in both vertical and horizontal wells,
showed a very moderate fracturing dominated by short stylolite related fractures suggesting the absence of
connected diffuse fracture networks in these reservoir units. The subsequent fracture analysis from BHI data
confirmed the core observations and concluded that fracturing in the reservoirs are dominated by fracture
corridors related to faults, with no significant diffuse fracturing. The dynamic analysis using the production,
pressure, well test and PLT data showed that production in these reservoirs is mainly controlled by matrix,
with a very limited contribution of fractures corridors.
Fracture characterization results were integrated into a conceptual fracture model featuring the lineaments
detected on seismic data and validated from the well data. The representative 3D fracture models (DFN)
were built and dynamically calibrated using the well test and flowmeter data. Equivalent, fracture only and
combined matrix plus fractures properties, to be used in future dynamic simulations, were calculated in
each cell of the reservoir grid.
The uncertainty associated with the fractures and their impact was addressed using advanced and
integrated characterization and modeling processes. Absence of significant fracturing in the field suggested
no major risk in terms of reservoir integrity, reducing the risk for future development plans and economically
efficient depletion strategies.

Acknowledgements:
The authors would like to thank the management of ADCO for authorizing the presentation of this work
and IFP Middle East Consulting (IFP-MEC) and Beicip-Franlab for the support.

Nomenclature:
Fracture Any type of break affecting a rock body, independently of its origin (fracture
mechanism), nature (opening-mode, shearing) and scale (cm to km)
Fault Fracture with an evidence of displacement across its surfaces (shearing fracture),
regardless of the scale
Seismic fault Fault interpreted on seismic data, hence with typically large dimensions (hundreds
of meters to kilometers)
Fracture cluster Group of closely-spaced fractures sharing a common orientation, detected on BHI
SPE-186043-MS 17

Fault lineament Any large-scale fracture zone not directly interpreted on seismic (because of no
throw, or a throw below the seismic resolution) but impacting and detectable on
the seismic attributes, such as coherency; also termed as ‘Fault Lineament’
Fracture corridor Generic term used for the fracture modeling and including the large fracture clusters
detected at wells, the fracture lineaments and the seismic faults
HC Lineament High Confidence Lineament
LC Lineament Low Confidence Lineament
CGR Condensate Gas Ratio
GOR Gas Oil Ratio

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