COMPLAS 2023

Numerical Modelling of Limited Entry Technique: Application to Hydraulic Fracture Completion Design.

  • Perez, Adria (REPSOL, S.A.)
  • Alvarellos, Jose (REPSOL, S.A.)
  • Garolera, Daniel (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya)
  • Carol, Ignacio (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya)

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In a hydraulic fracture (HF) context, production logs have shown that an important part of the injection clusters do not develop as fractures, and therefore, do not contribute to the well production. To avoid this issue, Limited Entry Techniques (LET) were developed in order to promote a simultaneous and uniform fracture growth. The LET is a technology designed for efficient simultaneous hydraulic fracturing treatment of multiple clusters within a same injection stage (group of simultaneous injected clusters). This method promotes simultaneous growth of multiple hydraulic fractures in a same injection stage, which has now become one of the essential goals of multistage HF treatments, especially when using the so-called plug and perforate method. In this methodology, the horizontal well is divided into intervals or stages, and clusters of perforations are placed within these intervals. The desired result is to achieve a uniform distribution of the fluid among the perforation clusters, in order to reach a more uniform stimulation of the reservoir when multiple HF clusters are growing from a horizontal well. In this paper, attention is focused on the numerical implementation and modelling of the LET in a FEM context, and its potential application to HF completion design. Examples of application are presented in which it is shown that depending on the intensity of the LET effect, the total fluid volume of the injection is distributed equally between all the clusters of a stage, instead of unequal volumes between them.