Evaluation of Multi-Fractured Horizontal Well Performance: Babbage Field Case Study

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the analyses of well tests and production logging carried out on three multi-fractured horizontal wells in the Babbage tight gas field, UK Southern North Sea. The actual performance observed in these wells was compared to the forecasts made based on open-hole well data and the data gathered during hydraulic fracturing operations. Some of the drawbacks in analysing well test data are discussed along with the uncertainties in modelling hydraulic fractures. Horizontal wells with multiple hydraulic fractures are used to increase productivity and recovery in tight reservoirs. Understanding and predicting fracture performance is essential to the field commerciality considering the associated high development costs, especially in the North Sea. The results of this study indicate that based on several pressure transient analyses, the clean-up time can be up to several months, which was observed in the form of gradual skin reduction over time. The PLT data also confirmed that there is cross flow during the shut in periods, usually flowing from the outer fractures into the inner fractures. This was believed to have an impact on the interpretation of the build-ups. Moreover it was shown that during build-up tests of more than 500 hours, linear flow was the dominant flow regime and therefore the final radial flow stabilization had not yet been reached. There are many studies in the literature on the design, operations, characterization and numerical modelling of similar multifractured horizontal wells. However there are not many publications presenting real field data and the performance of these wells. This paper covers the well performance data in addition to the design, modelling and operations of the multi-fractured horizontal wells.