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Accessed drainage volume and recovery factors of fractured horizontal wells under transient flow
Yesiltepe, Caglar
Yesiltepe, Caglar
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2015
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Abstract
The objective of the research presented in this Master of Science thesis is to propose a practical approach to estimate the drainage volume and recovery factors of fractured horizontal wells in tight, unconventional reservoirs under economic constraints. For conventional wells, economic depletion of a given drainage area is mainly dictated by physical depletion. For fractured horizontal wells in unconventional reservoirs, however, economic depletion rates are usually reached during transient flow and recovery factors are insensitive to well spacing. A consequence of this phenomenon is the disparity of the observed ultimate recovery from the estimates based on well-spacing considerations, which is also manifested in the inconsistencies of the estimated recovery factors of wells in unconventional reservoirs. Furthermore, economic depletion during transient flow also has implications on more efficient utilization of unconventional hydrocarbon resources. In this work, a contacted reservoir volume (CRV) is defined based on the effective transient drainage area of the well under linear-flow conditions. This definition enables the estimation of physically and economically meaningful recovery factors based on accessable reserves of the well for an economic cut-off rate. Equations to estimate effective drainage areas of fractured horizontal wells under linear and compound linear flow conditions are derived and related to the CRV for a given transient production rate. This approach provides a practical means of optimizing hydraulic fracture spacing along a horizontal well. Example applications of the proposed approach are demonstrated and the results are discussed. The work presented in this thesis does not consider the geomechanical changes caused by stimulation and production from the reservoir. These aspects are left for future studies.
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