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Embedded Discrete Fracture Model (EDFM) for Advanced Naturally and Hydraulically...
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Embedded Discrete Fracture Model (EDFM) for Advanced Naturally and Hydraulically Fractured Reservoir Simulation

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 July 2021) | Viewed by 11153

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Wei Yu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Petroleum Geology Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Interests: EDFM software; EDFM-AI history matching; shale EOR; complex fracture hits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kamy Sepehrnoori

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712-1585, USA
Interests: computational methods; reservoir simulation; parallel computing; enhanced-oil-recovery modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Kan Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3116, USA
Interests: complex fracture model; natural fractures; rock mechanics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Embedded discrete fracture models (EDFM) have been recently developed and widely proven to be the best fracture modeling tool for simulating any and all types of fractures (hydraulic and natural) to enhance reservoir models to drastically improve predictability and optimization/development strategies for both primary and enhanced oil recovery applications. Having this capability is critical because fractures can dominate the results seen in the field. This system can be swiftly integrated into existing frameworks for all fractured reservoirs to perform more predictive sensitivity analyses, more representative history matching, and accurate production forecasting. This Special Issue solicits original and high-quality research articles related to the EDFM developments and its applications in naturally and hydraulically fractured reservoirs.

Of interest are original papers on:

  • Advanced EDFM developments for fractured reservoir simulation;
  • Comparison between EDFM and dual porosity dual permeability (DPDK);
  • Integration of EDFM and artificial intelligence (AI) for fractured reservoirs;
  • Advanced history matching and production forecasting using EDFM;
  • Effects of natural fractures on well performance using EDFM;
  • Coupling fracture model and reservoir model using EDFM;
  • Advanced geomechanics simulation for fractured reservoirs using EDFM;
  • Applications of EDFM in natural fracture calibration;
  • Applications of EDFM in hydraulic fracture calibration;
  • Applications of EDFM in well spacing optimization;
  • Applications of EDFM in water intrusion with complex natural fractures;
  • Applications of EDFM in well interference due to complex fracture hits;
  • Applications of EDFM in well test of naturally fractured reservoirs;
  • Applications of EDFM in rate or pressure transient analysis of fractured reservoirs;
  • Applications of EDFM in enhanced gas and oil recovery with complex fractures;
  • Applications of EDFM in geothermal with complex fracture networks;
  • Applications of EDFM in complex fault modeling;
  • Applications of EDFM in CO2 sequestration with complex fracture networks.

Prof. Dr. Kamy Sepehrnoori
Dr. Wei Yu
Prof. Dr. Kan Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Complex natural fractures
  • Complex hydraulic fractures
  • Advanced history matching
  • Improved production forecasting
  • Complex fracture hits
  • Embedded discrete fracture model
  • Artificial intelligence for complex fractures
  • Well spacing optimization
  • Well interference
  • Geomechanics
  • Enhanced oil recovery
  • Geothermal
  • CO2 sequestration

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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32 pages, 14804 KiB  
Article
Compositional Simulation of Geological and Engineering Controls on Gas Huff-n-Puff in Duvernay Shale Volatile Oil Reservoirs, Canada
by Xiangwen Kong, Hongjun Wang, Wei Yu, Ping Wang, Jijun Miao and Mauricio Fiallos-Torres
Energies 2021, 14(8), 2070; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082070 - 8 Apr 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2258
Abstract
Duvernay shale is a world class shale deposit with a total resource of 440 billion barrels oil equivalent in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The volatile oil recovery factors achieved from primary production are much lower than those from the gas-condensate window, [...] Read more.
Duvernay shale is a world class shale deposit with a total resource of 440 billion barrels oil equivalent in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). The volatile oil recovery factors achieved from primary production are much lower than those from the gas-condensate window, typically 5–10% of original oil in place (OOIP). The previous study has indicated that huff-n-puff gas injection is one of the most promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods in shale oil reservoirs. In this paper, we built a comprehensive numerical compositional model in combination with the embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) method to evaluate geological and engineering controls on gas huff-n-puff in Duvernay shale volatile oil reservoirs. Multiple scenarios of compositional simulations of huff-n-puff gas injection for the proposed twelve parameters have been conducted and effects of reservoir, completion and depletion development parameters on huff-n-puff are evaluated. We concluded that fracture conductivity, natural fracture density, period of primary depletion, and natural fracture permeability are the most sensitive parameters for incremental oil recovery from gas huff-n-puff. Low fracture conductivity and a short period of primary depletion could significantly increase the gas usage ratio and result in poor economical efficiency of the gas huff-n-puff process. Sensitivity analysis indicates that due to the increase of the matrix-surface area during gas huff-n-puff process, natural fractures associated with hydraulic fractures are the key controlling factors for gas huff-n-puff in Duvernay shale oil reservoirs. The range for the oil recovery increase over the primary recovery for one gas huff-n-puff cycle (nearly 2300 days of production) in Duvernay shale volatile oil reservoir is between 0.23 and 0.87%. Finally, we proposed screening criteria for gas huff-n-puff potential areas in volatile oil reservoirs from Duvernay shale. This study is highly meaningful and can give valuable reference to practical works conducting the huff-n-puff gas injection in both Duvernay and other shale oil reservoirs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Embedded Discrete Fracture Model (EDFM) for Advanced Naturally and Hydraulically Fractured Reservoir Simulation)
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37 pages, 20128 KiB  
Article
Water Intrusion Characterization in Naturally Fractured Gas Reservoir Based on Spatial DFN Connectivity Analysis
by Pengyu Chen, Mauricio Fiallos-Torres, Yuzhong Xing, Wei Yu, Chunqiu Guo, Joseph Leines-Artieda, Muwei Cheng, Hongbing Xie, Haidong Shi, Zhenyu Mao, Jijun Miao and Kamy Sepehrnoori
Energies 2020, 13(16), 4235; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13164235 - 16 Aug 2020
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4276
Abstract
In this study, the non-intrusive embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) in combination with the Oda method are employed to characterize natural fracture networks fast and accurately, by identifying the dominant water flow paths through spatial connectivity analysis. The purpose of this study is [...] Read more.
In this study, the non-intrusive embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM) in combination with the Oda method are employed to characterize natural fracture networks fast and accurately, by identifying the dominant water flow paths through spatial connectivity analysis. The purpose of this study is to present a successful field case application in which a novel workflow integrates field data, discrete fracture network (DFN), and production analysis with spatial fracture connectivity analysis to characterize dominant flow paths for water intrusion in a field-scale numerical simulation. Initially, the water intrusion of single-well sector models was history matched. Then, resulting parameters of the single-well models were incorporated into the full field model, and the pressure and water breakthrough of all the producing wells were matched. Finally, forecast results were evaluated. Consequently, one of the findings is that wellbore connectivity to the fracture network has a considerable effect on characterizing the water intrusion in fractured gas reservoirs. Additionally, dominant water flow paths within the fracture network, easily modeled by EDFM as effective fracture zones, aid in understanding and predicting the water intrusion phenomena. Therefore, fracture clustering as shortest paths from the water contacts to the wellbore endorses the results of the numerical simulation. Finally, matching the breakthrough time depends on merging responses from multiple dominant water flow paths within the distributions of the fracture network. The conclusions of this investigation are crucial to field modeling and the decision-making process of well operation by anticipating water intrusion behavior through probable flow paths within the fracture networks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Embedded Discrete Fracture Model (EDFM) for Advanced Naturally and Hydraulically Fractured Reservoir Simulation)
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24 pages, 10184 KiB  
Article
A Novel Optimization Workflow Coupling Statistics-Based Methods to Determine Optimal Well Spacing and Economics in Shale Gas Reservoir with Complex Natural Fractures
by Cheng Chang, Chuxi Liu, Yongming Li, Xiaoping Li, Wei Yu, Jijun Miao and Kamy Sepehrnoori
Energies 2020, 13(15), 3965; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13153965 - 1 Aug 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2765
Abstract
In order to account for big uncertainties such as well interferences, hydraulic and natural fractures’ properties and matrix properties in shale gas reservoirs, it is paramount to develop a robust and efficient approach for well spacing optimization. In this study, a novel well [...] Read more.
In order to account for big uncertainties such as well interferences, hydraulic and natural fractures’ properties and matrix properties in shale gas reservoirs, it is paramount to develop a robust and efficient approach for well spacing optimization. In this study, a novel well spacing optimization workflow is proposed and applied to a real shale gas reservoir with two-phase flow, incorporating the systematic analysis of uncertainty reservoir and fracture parameters. One hundred combinations of these uncertainties, considering their interactions, were gathered from assisted history matching solutions, which were calibrated by the actual field production history from the well in the Sichuan Basin. These combinations were used as direct input to the well spacing optimization workflow, and five “wells per section” spacing scenarios were considered, with spacing ranging from 157 m (517 ft) to 472 m (1550 ft). An embedded discrete fracture model was used to efficiently model both hydraulic fractures and complex natural fractures non-intrusively, along with a commercial compositional reservoir simulator. Economic analysis after production simulation was then carried out, by collecting cumulative gas and water production after 20 years. The net present value (NPV) distributions of the different well spacing scenarios were calculated and presented as box-plots with a NPV ranging from 15 to 35 million dollars. It was found that the well spacing that maximizes the project NPV for this study is 236 m (775 ft), with the project NPV ranging from 15 to 35 million dollars and a 50th percentile (P50) value of 25.9 million dollars. In addition, spacings of 189 m (620 ft) and 315 m (1033 ft) can also produce substantial project profits, but are relatively less satisfactory than the 236 m (775 ft) case when comparing the P25, P50 and P75 values. The results obtained from this study provide key insights into the field pilot design of well spacing in shale gas reservoirs with complex natural fractures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Embedded Discrete Fracture Model (EDFM) for Advanced Naturally and Hydraulically Fractured Reservoir Simulation)
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