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Fibre-optic sensing and microseismic monitoring evaluate and enhance hydraulic fracturing via real-time and post-treatment analysis

October 23, 2024

Real-time measurement of temperature and strain by either wireline or permanent installation of fibre-optic Distributed Acoustic/Temperature Sensing (DAS/DTS)is gaining traction in unconventional reservoirs across North America. This is due to its ability to provide valuable information for both in-well and cross- well analysis of multifrac horizontal wells during completion, treatment, production and even abandonment phases.

In this work, we integrate microseismic with fibre temperature and strain data to evaluate stimulation performance for several stages of a horizontal well in the Marcellus shale. For economic exploitation of unconventional reservoirs, what is equally important to initial reservoir characterization is the ability to control the conformance of the Stimulated Reservoir Volume (SRV), which requires understanding of not only how each completion parameter affects thein-well treatment efficiency (cluster efficiency) but also how far and how fast the proppant-laden fracturing fluid travels in different directions. In fact,without knowing the extent of the contributing fractures, it is highly uncertain and misleading to modulate reservoir models. The integration of DAS-based injection allocation, DTS-based Temperature Transient Analysis (TTA),and deformation and stress state analysis from microseismic data enables the description of the spatiotemporal fracture behavior. The results suggest that natural fractures, stress shadowing and in-situ stress contrast dominate fracture growth. Thus, and not surprisingly, the key to enhancing reservoir contact is having sufficient knowledge of the in-situ mechanical properties and the ability to control mechanical interferences, which may require adjusting the pumping schedule and perforation design on the fly.

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