A fully three dimensional semianalytical model for shale gas reservoirs with hydraulic fractures

Abstract

Two challenges exist for modeling gas transport in shale. One is the existence of complex gas transport mechanisms, and the other is the impact of hydraulic fracture networks. In this study, a truly three dimensional semianalytical model was developed for shale gas reservoirs with hydraulic fractures of various shapes. Using the instantaneous point source solution, the pressure are solved for a bounded reservoir with fully 3D, partially penetrated hydraulic fractures of different strike angles and dip angles. The fractures could have various shapes such as rectangles, disks and ellipses. The shale gas diffusion equations considers complex transport mechanism such as gas slippage and gas diffusion. This semianalytical model is verified with a commercial software and an analytical method for single fully penetrated rectangle fracture, and the production results of shale gas are consistent. The impacts of fracture height and strike angles are investigated by five systematically constructed models. The comparison shows that the production increases proportionally with the fracture height, and decreases with the increase of strike angles. The method proposed in this study could also be applied in well testing to analyze the reservoir properties and used to forecast the production for tight oil and conventional resources.