The Geomechanical Prediction of Fracturing in the Circle Ridge Field, Wind River Basin, WY.

The Geomechanical Prediction of Fracturing in the Circle Ridge Field, Wind River Basin, WY Paul R. La Pointe; Paul R. La Pointe Golder Associates Inc. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Jan Hermanson Jan Hermanson Golder Associates Inc. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE/ISRM Rock Mechanics Conference, Irving, Texas, October 2002. Paper Number: SPE-78248-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/78248-MS Published: October 20 2002 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation La Pointe, Paul R., and Jan Hermanson. "The Geomechanical Prediction of Fracturing in the Circle Ridge Field, Wind River Basin, WY." Paper presented at the SPE/ISRM Rock Mechanics Conference, Irving, Texas, October 2002. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/78248-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE/ISRM Rock Mechanics Conference Search Advanced Search AbstractImproved recovery of oil from fractured reservoirs often requires understanding how the intensity and orientation of natural fractures vary throughout the reservoir or field. Image logs or core provide excellent fracture data on these fracture parameters in the vicinity of a well, but these often still leave a large portion of the reservoir unknown. Modern 3D landbased seismic can be used to help constrain fracture intensity and directionality in the critical regions between wells, but acquisition and processing may be technically difficult or uneconomic, particularly in older onshore fields where optimized tertiary recovery schemes could increase recovery.Many important fractured oil reservoirs form in a compressional setting in which there have been various episodes of folding and faulting. The faulting can be quite complex, and involve reverse or thrust faulting, as well as extensional (normal) faulting. Because these folding and faulting events probably represent the peak strain events that the reservoir has experienced, it is likely that the reservoirscale fracturing developed in response to one or more of these events. Thus, if the strain history could be technically and economically mapped and compared to fracture data from image logs or core, it would be possible to constrain the orientations and intensity of fracturing throughout the reservoir.This process was carried out at the Circle Ridge Field, in which the fracturing in the Tensleep and Phosphoria Formations controls the efficiency of recovery processes. A 3D palinspastic reconstruction of the strain history for the folding and faulting of this Field was carried out. The strain pattern developed after each stage of deformation was compared to image log and surface fracture data. It was found that the strain produced by the initial folding event predicts fracture orientations and intensity variations quite accurately throughout various structural blocks, and that later faulting events do not seem to have influenced the fracture pattern except in the immediate vicinity of the large faults. This geomechanically-based model of fracturing is being used as the basis for designing tertiary recovery processes for the Field.IntroductionUltimate recovery from reservoirs where fractures dominate reservoir-scale permeability are often quite low, sometimes no more than 5% or 10% of the estimated original oil or gas in place. This represents a substantial resource left behind.The reasons for low recoveries arise from the substantial permeability contrast between the matrix and the fractures, and the often highly heterogeneous spatial distribution and connectivity of these fractures throughout the reservoir. The type of secondary or tertiary recovery process that may work best, the design of this process, the orientation of wells, the effectiveness of completions, as well as other engineering considerations are all very sensitive to the geometry and properties of fractures that are on the scale of tens to hundreds of meters. The prediction of the fracture "plumbing" in a fractured reservoir is critical to selecting and designing efficient recovery processes.This scale of fracturing is largely below the threshold resolution of seismic tools. Moreover, well tests, wellbore imagery and core only provide data on the fracture network at or within a few tens of meters of the wellbore. Thus, the fractures and the networks they form away from the wellbore may remain highly uncertain and make it harder to design more efficient recovery schemes. Keywords: breakthrough, corridor, reservoir characterization, orientation, spe isrm 78248, reservoir unit, injector, fracture orientation, upstream oil & gas, fracture Subjects: Reservoir Characterization, Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs, Exploration, development, structural geology, Naturally-fractured reservoirs This content is only available via PDF. 2002. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.

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