Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Extraction of oil and gas from tight hydrocarbon resources by using multi lateral/multi fractured horizontal wells is rapidly growing in the North America. However, efficient, responsible and sustainable development of such unconventional energy resources requires representative evaluation of massive fracturing operations involved. An example of unconventional gas accumulations is the Horn River Formation in northeastern British Colombia. It is estimated that up to 500 Tcf of natural gas is stored in the shale members of this formation, making it the third largest North American natural gas accumulation. Characterizing the fracture network induced in the Horn River shales is a challenging task primarily because 1) the rock is naturally fractured and therefore hydraulic fracturing results in a complex fracture network, and 2) water and gas are immediately produced when wells are put on flowback after the fracturing operations. The proposed research program will develop a workflow to analyze pressure and flow rate of gas and water measured at different time scales of the production phase. The research tasks will be conducted by two PhD students, two MSc students, and a postdoctoral fellow in two parallel research phases. Phase 1 will simulate two-phase flow of gas and fracturing water for history matching the early-time flowback data. Phase 2 will simulate flow of gas through a complex system consisting of hydraulic fractures, reactivated natural fractures, and shale matrix for history matching post flowback production data. The outcomes of this research will help the industry to estimate the volume, length, and conductivity of induced fractures that will lead to more accurate evaluation of fracturing operations, forecast of gas production, and estimation of total gas reserve.