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Influence of Fracture Types on Oil Production in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs

Author

Listed:
  • Milos Pejic

    (Department Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, 8700 Leoben, Austria)

  • Riyaz Kharrat

    (Department Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, 8700 Leoben, Austria)

  • Ali Kadkhodaie

    (Earth Sciences Department, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz 51666-16471, Iran)

  • Siroos Azizmohammadi

    (Department Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, 8700 Leoben, Austria)

  • Holger Ott

    (Department Petroleum Engineering, Montanuniversität Leoben, 8700 Leoben, Austria)

Abstract

Since more than half of the crude oil is deposited in naturally fractured reservoirs, more research has been focused on characterizing and understanding the fracture impact on their production performance. Naturally open fractures are interpreted from Fullbore Formation Micro-Imaging (FMI) logs. According to the fracture aperture, they are classified as major, medium, minor and hairy fractures in decreasing order of their respective aperture size. Different fracture types were set up in this work as a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) in synthetic models and a sector model from a highly naturally fractured carbonate reservoir. The field sector model includes four wells containing image logs from two wells and production data from two other wells. Numerous simulations were conducted to capture the contribution of fracture type on production performance. Primary recovery was used for synthetic and field sector models, while waterflooding and gas injection scenarios were considered just for the synthetic models. The results showed that the fracture type and its extent play an essential role in production for all studied models. The reservoir production capabilities might be underestimated by ignoring any fracture types present in the reservoir, especially the major ones. In the secondary recovery, fractures had different impacts. Better displacement and higher recovery were promoted for waterflooding, whereas faster breakthrough times were observed for the gas injection. The performance during gas injection was more dependent on fracture permeability changes than waterflooding. This study’s findings can help in better understanding the impact of the different types of fracture networks on oil recovery at the various production stages. Additionally, the history matching process can be improved by including all types of fractures in the dynamic model. Any simplification of the fracture types might end in overestimating or underestimating the oil recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Milos Pejic & Riyaz Kharrat & Ali Kadkhodaie & Siroos Azizmohammadi & Holger Ott, 2022. "Influence of Fracture Types on Oil Production in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:19:p:7321-:d:933969
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ronald Gugl & Riyaz Kharrat & Ali Shariat & Holger Ott, 2022. "Evaluation of Gas-Based EOR Methods in Gas-Invaded Zones of Fractured Carbonate Reservoir," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Wei Yu & Xiaohu Hu & Malin Liu & Weihong Wang, 2019. "Investigation of the Effect of Natural Fractures on Multiple Shale-Gas Well Performance Using Non-Intrusive EDFM Technology," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Riyaz Kharrat & Mehdi Zallaghi & Holger Ott, 2021. "Performance Quantification of Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods in Fractured Reservoirs," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-22, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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