Opening-mode fractures play a crucial role in shale reservoirs,as they serve as flow channels and provide storage space for hydrocarbons.The shale reservoirs in the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Junggar Basin,NW C...Opening-mode fractures play a crucial role in shale reservoirs,as they serve as flow channels and provide storage space for hydrocarbons.The shale reservoirs in the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Junggar Basin,NW China,record multi-stage tectonic and diagenetic processes that created multi-stage natural fractures,thereby contributing to the oil content differentiation within the formation.Effective identification and characterization of natural fractures is vital for the efficient recovery of shale oil in the Jimsar Sag.We combine outcrop observations,drill core analyses,thin section examinations,and well log analyses to determine the characteristics of fractures in the shale reservoirs and their modes of development.We also establish multi-parameter evaluation index criteria and an evaluation system for fractures using statistical analyses.The shale reservoirs of the Lucaogou Formation in the Jimsar Sag host three main types of fracture:tectonic fractures,diagenetic fractures,and overpressure fractures.Conventional well logging,imaging logging,and core observations demonstrate that the fractured shale reservoir section has gamma-ray counts(GR)of>75 API,shallow laterolog resistivities of<80Ω·m,neutron densities of<2.40 g/cm3,neutron porosities of>27%,and interval transit times of>23.77μs/m,fracture density exceeding 3 fractures/m,and average porosity ranging from 0.2%to 0.3%in the lower sweet spots.The lower sweet spot(P2l12)of the Lucaogou Formation exhibits the highest degree of fracture development.Our detailed characterization reveals high fracture permeabilities and porosities in the upper and lower sweet spots(P2l22 and P2l12),with higher values in the latter.In addition,we present a novel rose diagram method to represent various fracture parameters.The best-developed tectonic fractures in the Lucaogou Formation strike ENE-WSW,have an average linear density of 1.65 fractures/m,an average aperture of 0.25 mm,an average length of 8.7 cm,and the highest proportion of unfilled fractures.Our study shows that a combination of field observations,drill core analyses,microscopic observations,and well logging provides a solid foundation for investigating the mechanisms of fracture formation in shale reservoirs.展开更多
The lower Ordovician mid-assemblage Formations in the central Ordos Basin of China host prolific gas resources,and most hydrocarbon reserves are stored in naturally-fractured reservoirs.Thus,fracture pathway systems m...The lower Ordovician mid-assemblage Formations in the central Ordos Basin of China host prolific gas resources,and most hydrocarbon reserves are stored in naturally-fractured reservoirs.Thus,fracture pathway systems may have a significant impact on reservoir performance.This article focuses on the core-and laboratory-based characterization of fractures.Through the developmental degrees,extended scale,output state and filling characteristics of various types of fractures,the results show that there are three distinct fracture types:1)nearly vertical fractures,2)oblique fractures,and 3)horizontal fractures.Based on a systematic study of the characterization of reservoir space,the main geologic setting of natural gas accumulation and the regional tectonic background,type 1 is mainly driven by the tectonic formation mechanism,and type 3 and parts of low-angle fractures in type 2 are induced by the diagenetic formation mechanism.While recovered paleopressure for methane-rich aqueous inclusions trapped in fracture-filling cement indicates that the fracture opening and growth are consistent with gas maturation and charge and such high-angle fractures in type 2 are caused by the compound formation mechanism.The fractures to hydrocarbon accumulation may play a more significant role in improving the quality of reservoir porosity.Furthermore,connected fractures,dissolved pores and cavities together constitute the three-dimensional pore-cave-fracture network pathway systems,with faults serving as the dominant charge pathways of highly pressurized gas in the study area.Our results demonstrate that protracted growth of a pervasive fracture system is not only the consequence of various formation mechanisms but also intrinsic to quasi-continuous accumulation reservoirs.展开更多
Tightening the well spacing for unconventional tight reservoirs is an efficient technique to enhance oil and gas recoveries.Infill well-caused fracture connection between wells is widely reported in the field with sma...Tightening the well spacing for unconventional tight reservoirs is an efficient technique to enhance oil and gas recoveries.Infill well-caused fracture connection between wells is widely reported in the field with small well spacing.This will make it difficult to make formation evaluation and fracture characterization between wells compared to single well cases.In this paper,a novel production data analysis(PDA)method is proposed for fracture characterization with the consideration of interwell fracture connections after the hydraulic fracturing of the infill.The PDA method is based on a semianalytical model,in which the small-scaled fractures are treated with the concept of stimulated reservoir volume(SRV).Thus,the fracture connections between wells are classified into three types,including SRV,fractures,and both SRV and fractures.The physical model is discretized into several linear flow regions,so the mathematical model can be solved semianalytically.An integrated workflow is proposed to analyze the production data for the wellpad,and three steps are mainly included in the workflow,including PDA for the parent well before infill,PDA for the parent well after infill,and PDA for the infill well.In each step,the production performance in the early linear and bilinear flow regimes are analyzed with approximate solutions in the square and fourth root-of-time plots.Because only the relationship between unknown model parameters can be obtained with the approximate solutions,history matching to the production data in log-log plots is further used to determine each unknown parameter.The PDA method is benchmarked with a synthetic case generated by the numerical simulator tNavigator and a field case from Southwestern China.The results show that both good matches and precise parameters can be obtained with the proposed PDA method.The connected fracture number will not be sensitive in PDA when the wells are connected with high-conductive dSRV.The innovation of this paper is that a practical method is provided for PDA analysis of well groups with fracture connection,and it will be a good technique for fracture characterization and well-interference analysis for tight formations.展开更多
The existing acoustic logging methods for evaluating the hydraulic fracturing effectiveness usually use the fracture density to evaluate the fracture volume, and the results often cannot accurately reflect the actual ...The existing acoustic logging methods for evaluating the hydraulic fracturing effectiveness usually use the fracture density to evaluate the fracture volume, and the results often cannot accurately reflect the actual productivity. This paper studies the dynamic fluid flow through hydraulic fractures and its effect on borehole acoustic waves. Firstly, based on the fractal characteristics of fractures observed in hydraulic fracturing experiments, a permeability model of complex fracture network is established. Combining the dynamic fluid flow response of the model with the Biot-Rosenbaum theory that describes the acoustic wave propagation in permeable formations, the influence of hydraulic fractures on the velocity dispersion of borehole Stoneley-wave is then calculated and analyzed, whereby a novel hydraulic fracture fluid transport property evaluation method is proposed. The results show that the Stoneley-wave velocity dispersion characteristics caused by complex fractures can be equivalent to those of the plane fracture model, provided that the average permeability of the complex fracture model is equal to the permeability of the plane fracture. In addition, for fractures under high-permeability(fracture width 10~100 μm, permeability ~100 μm^(2)) and reduced permeability(1~10 μm, ~10 μm^(2), as in fracture closure) conditions, the Stoneley-wave velocity dispersion characteristics are significantly different. The field application shows that this fluid transport property evaluation method is practical to assess the permeability and the connectivity of hydraulic fractures.展开更多
The paper presents a novel hydraulic fracturing model for the characterization and simulation of the complex fracture network in shale gas reservoirs. We go beyond the existing method that uses planar or orthogonal co...The paper presents a novel hydraulic fracturing model for the characterization and simulation of the complex fracture network in shale gas reservoirs. We go beyond the existing method that uses planar or orthogonal conjugate fractures for representing the ＇＇complexity＇＇ of the network. Bifurcation of fractures is performed utilizing the Lindenmayer system based on fractal geometry to describe the fracture propagation pattern, density and network connectivity. Four controlling parameters are proposed to describe the details of complex fractures and stimulated reservoir volume（SRV）. The results show that due to the multilevel feature of fractal fractures, the model could provide a simple method for contributing reservoir volume calibration. The primary-and second-stage fracture networks across the overall SRV are the main contributions to the production, while the induced fracture network just contributes another 20% in the late producing period. We also conduct simulation with respect to different refracturing cases and find that increasing the complexity of the fracture network provides better performance than only enhancing the fracture conductivity.展开更多
The cyclic soft stimulation(CSS)is a new method of reservoir reforming for which the mechanism of fracturing crack propagation is ambiguous with regard to the alternating fluid pressure.This study aims to provide a co...The cyclic soft stimulation(CSS)is a new method of reservoir reforming for which the mechanism of fracturing crack propagation is ambiguous with regard to the alternating fluid pressure.This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the fracturing mechanical characterizations of CSS under different magnitudes and amplitudes of the alternating fluid pressure.Acoustic emission(AE)is recorded to investigate the damage evolution under CSS based on the b value analysis of AE.Experimental results reveal the difference of pressure in a crack under different cyclic fluid pressure conditions.The AE results show that the maximum radiated energy under CSS tends to be reduced with the increase in the amplitude and magnitude of the alternating fluid pressure.The finishing crucial touch is that the crack extending criterion under CSS is proposed,which combines the injection parameters,the rock properties and in-situ stress.According to the crack extending criterion,the fluctuation fluid pressure causes the reduction of a critical crack extending pressure,and the CSS causes the crack to initiate and propagate under low fluid pressure.Under a higher-value magnitude of alternating fluid pressure,the cyclic times of CSS is less for the crack initiation.In supplement to the crack extending criterion,a distinct relationship between the radiated energy and the cyclic fluid pressure also is established based on the energy dissipation criterion.These new findings provide an insight into the determination of crack extending criterion under CSS for efficiently implementing shale fracturing.展开更多
Based on the running characteristics,the experimental results show that wear particles appear on the normal running stage.The fractural characteristics of wear particles were investigated, it is found there exists a r...Based on the running characteristics,the experimental results show that wear particles appear on the normal running stage.The fractural characteristics of wear particles were investigated, it is found there exists a relation between the wear characters and bear conditions.展开更多
This study focuses on the factors that may affect the feasibility of performing elliptical anisotropy analysis on azimuthal PP and PS-wave data in HTI media, with the aim of using the modeling results as guidance in r...This study focuses on the factors that may affect the feasibility of performing elliptical anisotropy analysis on azimuthal PP and PS-wave data in HTI media, with the aim of using the modeling results as guidance in real seismic data application. Our results reveal that there is an offset limitation for both PP- and PS-waves in elliptical anisotropy fitting, and that PS-waves show a wider applicable offset range and larger observable azimuthal anisotropy than PP-waves. The major axis of the elliptical fit to the amplitudes of the R-component is perpendicular to the fracture strike, which is opposite to that in PP-wave analysis. The azimuthal interval travel time of PS-waves shows a nearly elliptical distribution and the major axis of the fit ellipse is perpendicular to the fracture strike, which is same as that in PP-wave analysis. For data within the applicable offset range, the anisotropic magnitude obtained from amplitude and travel time attributes of PP- and PS-waves exhibits a dependence on fracture density, and the major to minor axis ratio of the fit ellipse may be used to infer the relative distribution of fracture densities.展开更多
Geothermal fluids are extracted through deep wells drilled in a geological reservoir,which can be represented by highly heterogeneous volcanic complex,sedimentary basins or deep basement rocks.The main objective of th...Geothermal fluids are extracted through deep wells drilled in a geological reservoir,which can be represented by highly heterogeneous volcanic complex,sedimentary basins or deep basement rocks.The main objective of this project was to propose suitable methodologies and techniques for the characterization and modeling of fractured geothermal reservoirs,to ensure their sustainable exploitation and,therefore,ensure acceptation of this kind of energy by local communities.展开更多
The latest researches reveal that studies on unconventional clastic oil reservoirs in China generally lag far behind those in other countries in respect of content and methodology.This study presents the definition an...The latest researches reveal that studies on unconventional clastic oil reservoirs in China generally lag far behind those in other countries in respect of content and methodology.This study presents the definition and classification of unconventional oil reservoirs and analyzes the problems in the fine description of unconventional oil reservoirs.The key content of the fine description of unconventional oil reservoirs is summarized from four aspects:fine fracture characterization based on fine structure interpretation,reservoir architecture characterization based on sedimentary facies,characteristics of nanoscale microscopic pore structure of reservoir,and evaluation of source rock and“sweet spot zone”.Finally,this study suggests that development of fine description of unconventional clastic oil reservoirs in the future should focus on rock brittleness analysis and fracture modeling,geophysical characterization of unconventional clastic oil reservoirs,fluid description of tight reservoirs,and physical/numerical simulation experiments of unconventional oil reservoirs.展开更多
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.42002050 and 42072174).
文摘Opening-mode fractures play a crucial role in shale reservoirs,as they serve as flow channels and provide storage space for hydrocarbons.The shale reservoirs in the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Junggar Basin,NW China,record multi-stage tectonic and diagenetic processes that created multi-stage natural fractures,thereby contributing to the oil content differentiation within the formation.Effective identification and characterization of natural fractures is vital for the efficient recovery of shale oil in the Jimsar Sag.We combine outcrop observations,drill core analyses,thin section examinations,and well log analyses to determine the characteristics of fractures in the shale reservoirs and their modes of development.We also establish multi-parameter evaluation index criteria and an evaluation system for fractures using statistical analyses.The shale reservoirs of the Lucaogou Formation in the Jimsar Sag host three main types of fracture:tectonic fractures,diagenetic fractures,and overpressure fractures.Conventional well logging,imaging logging,and core observations demonstrate that the fractured shale reservoir section has gamma-ray counts(GR)of>75 API,shallow laterolog resistivities of<80Ω·m,neutron densities of<2.40 g/cm3,neutron porosities of>27%,and interval transit times of>23.77μs/m,fracture density exceeding 3 fractures/m,and average porosity ranging from 0.2%to 0.3%in the lower sweet spots.The lower sweet spot(P2l12)of the Lucaogou Formation exhibits the highest degree of fracture development.Our detailed characterization reveals high fracture permeabilities and porosities in the upper and lower sweet spots(P2l22 and P2l12),with higher values in the latter.In addition,we present a novel rose diagram method to represent various fracture parameters.The best-developed tectonic fractures in the Lucaogou Formation strike ENE-WSW,have an average linear density of 1.65 fractures/m,an average aperture of 0.25 mm,an average length of 8.7 cm,and the highest proportion of unfilled fractures.Our study shows that a combination of field observations,drill core analyses,microscopic observations,and well logging provides a solid foundation for investigating the mechanisms of fracture formation in shale reservoirs.
基金Project (2011ZX05007-004) supported by the National Sciences and Technologies,ChinaProject (41502132) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘The lower Ordovician mid-assemblage Formations in the central Ordos Basin of China host prolific gas resources,and most hydrocarbon reserves are stored in naturally-fractured reservoirs.Thus,fracture pathway systems may have a significant impact on reservoir performance.This article focuses on the core-and laboratory-based characterization of fractures.Through the developmental degrees,extended scale,output state and filling characteristics of various types of fractures,the results show that there are three distinct fracture types:1)nearly vertical fractures,2)oblique fractures,and 3)horizontal fractures.Based on a systematic study of the characterization of reservoir space,the main geologic setting of natural gas accumulation and the regional tectonic background,type 1 is mainly driven by the tectonic formation mechanism,and type 3 and parts of low-angle fractures in type 2 are induced by the diagenetic formation mechanism.While recovered paleopressure for methane-rich aqueous inclusions trapped in fracture-filling cement indicates that the fracture opening and growth are consistent with gas maturation and charge and such high-angle fractures in type 2 are caused by the compound formation mechanism.The fractures to hydrocarbon accumulation may play a more significant role in improving the quality of reservoir porosity.Furthermore,connected fractures,dissolved pores and cavities together constitute the three-dimensional pore-cave-fracture network pathway systems,with faults serving as the dominant charge pathways of highly pressurized gas in the study area.Our results demonstrate that protracted growth of a pervasive fracture system is not only the consequence of various formation mechanisms but also intrinsic to quasi-continuous accumulation reservoirs.
基金supported by the Jiangsu Province Carbon Peak Carbon Neutral Technology Innovation Project in China(BE2022034-2)the foundation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51974328)+2 种基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2021QN1005)the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(BK20210520)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2022M713372).
文摘Tightening the well spacing for unconventional tight reservoirs is an efficient technique to enhance oil and gas recoveries.Infill well-caused fracture connection between wells is widely reported in the field with small well spacing.This will make it difficult to make formation evaluation and fracture characterization between wells compared to single well cases.In this paper,a novel production data analysis(PDA)method is proposed for fracture characterization with the consideration of interwell fracture connections after the hydraulic fracturing of the infill.The PDA method is based on a semianalytical model,in which the small-scaled fractures are treated with the concept of stimulated reservoir volume(SRV).Thus,the fracture connections between wells are classified into three types,including SRV,fractures,and both SRV and fractures.The physical model is discretized into several linear flow regions,so the mathematical model can be solved semianalytically.An integrated workflow is proposed to analyze the production data for the wellpad,and three steps are mainly included in the workflow,including PDA for the parent well before infill,PDA for the parent well after infill,and PDA for the infill well.In each step,the production performance in the early linear and bilinear flow regimes are analyzed with approximate solutions in the square and fourth root-of-time plots.Because only the relationship between unknown model parameters can be obtained with the approximate solutions,history matching to the production data in log-log plots is further used to determine each unknown parameter.The PDA method is benchmarked with a synthetic case generated by the numerical simulator tNavigator and a field case from Southwestern China.The results show that both good matches and precise parameters can be obtained with the proposed PDA method.The connected fracture number will not be sensitive in PDA when the wells are connected with high-conductive dSRV.The innovation of this paper is that a practical method is provided for PDA analysis of well groups with fracture connection,and it will be a good technique for fracture characterization and well-interference analysis for tight formations.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41821002,42174145)PetroChina Science and Technology Major Project (ZD2019-183-004)China University of Petroleum (East China) Graduate Student Innovation Project (YCX2019001)。
文摘The existing acoustic logging methods for evaluating the hydraulic fracturing effectiveness usually use the fracture density to evaluate the fracture volume, and the results often cannot accurately reflect the actual productivity. This paper studies the dynamic fluid flow through hydraulic fractures and its effect on borehole acoustic waves. Firstly, based on the fractal characteristics of fractures observed in hydraulic fracturing experiments, a permeability model of complex fracture network is established. Combining the dynamic fluid flow response of the model with the Biot-Rosenbaum theory that describes the acoustic wave propagation in permeable formations, the influence of hydraulic fractures on the velocity dispersion of borehole Stoneley-wave is then calculated and analyzed, whereby a novel hydraulic fracture fluid transport property evaluation method is proposed. The results show that the Stoneley-wave velocity dispersion characteristics caused by complex fractures can be equivalent to those of the plane fracture model, provided that the average permeability of the complex fracture model is equal to the permeability of the plane fracture. In addition, for fractures under high-permeability(fracture width 10~100 μm, permeability ~100 μm^(2)) and reduced permeability(1~10 μm, ~10 μm^(2), as in fracture closure) conditions, the Stoneley-wave velocity dispersion characteristics are significantly different. The field application shows that this fluid transport property evaluation method is practical to assess the permeability and the connectivity of hydraulic fractures.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51674279)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2016M602227)a grant from National Science and Technology Major Project(No.2017ZX05049-006)
文摘The paper presents a novel hydraulic fracturing model for the characterization and simulation of the complex fracture network in shale gas reservoirs. We go beyond the existing method that uses planar or orthogonal conjugate fractures for representing the ＇＇complexity＇＇ of the network. Bifurcation of fractures is performed utilizing the Lindenmayer system based on fractal geometry to describe the fracture propagation pattern, density and network connectivity. Four controlling parameters are proposed to describe the details of complex fractures and stimulated reservoir volume（SRV）. The results show that due to the multilevel feature of fractal fractures, the model could provide a simple method for contributing reservoir volume calibration. The primary-and second-stage fracture networks across the overall SRV are the main contributions to the production, while the induced fracture network just contributes another 20% in the late producing period. We also conduct simulation with respect to different refracturing cases and find that increasing the complexity of the fracture network provides better performance than only enhancing the fracture conductivity.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41302124,No.52078494)Open Funding by Hubei Intelligent Geological Equipment Engineering Technology Research Center(Grant No.DZZB202002)+1 种基金Open Funding by Engineering Research Center of Rock Soil Drilling&Excavation and Protection(Grant No.PL202001)the Independent Innovation Project of Central South University(Grant No.2019zzts634)
文摘The cyclic soft stimulation(CSS)is a new method of reservoir reforming for which the mechanism of fracturing crack propagation is ambiguous with regard to the alternating fluid pressure.This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the fracturing mechanical characterizations of CSS under different magnitudes and amplitudes of the alternating fluid pressure.Acoustic emission(AE)is recorded to investigate the damage evolution under CSS based on the b value analysis of AE.Experimental results reveal the difference of pressure in a crack under different cyclic fluid pressure conditions.The AE results show that the maximum radiated energy under CSS tends to be reduced with the increase in the amplitude and magnitude of the alternating fluid pressure.The finishing crucial touch is that the crack extending criterion under CSS is proposed,which combines the injection parameters,the rock properties and in-situ stress.According to the crack extending criterion,the fluctuation fluid pressure causes the reduction of a critical crack extending pressure,and the CSS causes the crack to initiate and propagate under low fluid pressure.Under a higher-value magnitude of alternating fluid pressure,the cyclic times of CSS is less for the crack initiation.In supplement to the crack extending criterion,a distinct relationship between the radiated energy and the cyclic fluid pressure also is established based on the energy dissipation criterion.These new findings provide an insight into the determination of crack extending criterion under CSS for efficiently implementing shale fracturing.
文摘Based on the running characteristics,the experimental results show that wear particles appear on the normal running stage.The fractural characteristics of wear particles were investigated, it is found there exists a relation between the wear characters and bear conditions.
文摘This study focuses on the factors that may affect the feasibility of performing elliptical anisotropy analysis on azimuthal PP and PS-wave data in HTI media, with the aim of using the modeling results as guidance in real seismic data application. Our results reveal that there is an offset limitation for both PP- and PS-waves in elliptical anisotropy fitting, and that PS-waves show a wider applicable offset range and larger observable azimuthal anisotropy than PP-waves. The major axis of the elliptical fit to the amplitudes of the R-component is perpendicular to the fracture strike, which is opposite to that in PP-wave analysis. The azimuthal interval travel time of PS-waves shows a nearly elliptical distribution and the major axis of the fit ellipse is perpendicular to the fracture strike, which is same as that in PP-wave analysis. For data within the applicable offset range, the anisotropic magnitude obtained from amplitude and travel time attributes of PP- and PS-waves exhibits a dependence on fracture density, and the major to minor axis ratio of the fit ellipse may be used to infer the relative distribution of fracture densities.
文摘Geothermal fluids are extracted through deep wells drilled in a geological reservoir,which can be represented by highly heterogeneous volcanic complex,sedimentary basins or deep basement rocks.The main objective of this project was to propose suitable methodologies and techniques for the characterization and modeling of fractured geothermal reservoirs,to ensure their sustainable exploitation and,therefore,ensure acceptation of this kind of energy by local communities.
文摘The latest researches reveal that studies on unconventional clastic oil reservoirs in China generally lag far behind those in other countries in respect of content and methodology.This study presents the definition and classification of unconventional oil reservoirs and analyzes the problems in the fine description of unconventional oil reservoirs.The key content of the fine description of unconventional oil reservoirs is summarized from four aspects:fine fracture characterization based on fine structure interpretation,reservoir architecture characterization based on sedimentary facies,characteristics of nanoscale microscopic pore structure of reservoir,and evaluation of source rock and“sweet spot zone”.Finally,this study suggests that development of fine description of unconventional clastic oil reservoirs in the future should focus on rock brittleness analysis and fracture modeling,geophysical characterization of unconventional clastic oil reservoirs,fluid description of tight reservoirs,and physical/numerical simulation experiments of unconventional oil reservoirs.
