Typical Curve and Diagnosis Method for Identifying Fracture Closure Points of Fractured Wells in Flowback and Early-Time Production Period for Tight Oil Reservoir – A Field Example from Ordos Basin in China

Abstract

Abstract Fracturing fluids will carry an amount of proppant flowing back to the wellbore due to the inappropriate flowback schedule, which causes some parts of fractures to be closed without support. The appearance of closed fracture sections without support (pinch point) has a serious negative effect on well performance and is also a potential signal of refracturing. A four-region model considering fracture closure is developed to detect pinch points by analyzing production data in material equilibrium time. Therefore, a novel four-region flow model is proposed to study the influence of pinch points on well dynamics performance in the initial stage of production and to diagnose the pinch point. In this model, the fluid flow to the wellbore is regarded as three parts: matrix, fracture, and pinch points. The position of the pinch point on the fracture (near wellbore) is considered. The existence of pinch points makes the fracture conductivity segmented, and the partial closure of fracture can be simulated by setting different fracture lengths, widths, and permeability. The flow in each region is treated as the linear flow and is coupled through boundary conditions and flux supply. Thereby, the mathematical model of flow containing pinch points is established. This paper analyzes the production data of oil well, draws the logarithmic curve of RNP and its derivative RNP’ versus the material balance time (MBT), and conducts rate transient analysis to determine the occurrence of pinch points. In the case of the near-wellbore pinch point, the slope of the first half of RNP curves is relatively small, while the slope of the back section is about 1/2. Compared with RNP curves, the early slope of RNP’ curves is relatively large and gradually changes into the linear flow stage with a slope of 1/2. Different properties of pinch points mainly affect the slope of the left and right ends of RNP and RNP’ curves. The new analysis method can be used to analyze the influence of fracture closure position and degree of fracture closure on well productivity. Finally, the novel four-region flow analysis model was applied to the analysis of oil production data from a typical well in Ordos Basin. The length, width, and permeability of the near-wellbore fracture closure section can be obtained by fitting the proposed chart. The novel four-region flow model method and its curve characteristics provided in this article can be used as an important reference for judging whether there is a pinch point in fracture. It has a certain guiding significance for the formulation of fracturing schemes for new wells and whether old wells need refracturing in actual production.