Integrating Geomechanics Studies to Shale and Tight Phased Development - Application to Delaware Basin

Abstract

Parent and child wells interference is a major concern in the development of shale and tight reservoirs. Oil and gas operators typically aim to prevent fractures interference during the child well’s stimulation, which connects the parent and child well’s fracture networks. Another aspect of the parent-child well interference lies in the impact of parent-well depletion on child-well stimulation, often leading to the underperformance of child-well production. For these circumstances, reservoir simulation that combines flow and geomechanics is required to predict child-well fractures growth. To achieve this goal, a new workflow combining flow (EDFM), geomechanics (single porosity) and fracturing was developed to predict the reservoir stress change, the growth of the child-well fractures, and the production of the parent and child wells. As one of the applications, this tool was applied to a Delaware basin reservoir and enabled the asset team to better design the pad for the child wells. Multiple scenarios were analyzed for eight child wells located between two parent wells. Using this tool, we were able to predict the asymmetric growth of the fractures in the direction of the parent wells for child wells that were close enough to their parent wells. The impact of this fractures’ asymmetric growth on the production of the child wells was also quantified, based on which a better configuration of child wells was recommended to mitigate the depletion effect of parent wells.