New, Integrated Approach to Diagnose, Characterize and Locate Inter-Well Fracture Connectivity in Carbonate Reservoirs From Transient-Test Data

Abstract

Abstract Characterization of natural fractures in carbonate reservoirs to the resolution of well tests is reliable for major fracture corridors. These fracture corridors, intersecting or non-intersecting the wells, impact the well performance and the ultimate recovery in the field. Good transient-test data is the key to diagnosing fractures and their characteristics. When fractures exist between the wells, it requires some additional efforts in locating these with respect to the wells. To overcome this challenge we propose a new approach of building 3D, numerical models to diagnose and characterize the inter-well fracture corridors. In addition, these 3D multi-well, numerical models are to determine the location and the extent of fracture corridors by utilizing dynamic pressure-transient data. The innovative idea of bringing multiple wells to the models to consider interference of wells and fracture corridors makes the models robust. We have been able to identify the inter-well fracture corridors successfully in carbonate reservoirs by performing pressure-transient analyses on wells. By adjusting the inter-well locations of fracture corridors and the extents of these fracture corridors in the multi-well models, we try to achieve the best possible matches with the transient-pressure data. This integrated approach will provide essential input to 3D full- field reservoir models, and will lead to optimizing field management.