Determining a hydraulic fracture completion configuration for a wellbore

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11359479-B2
Application number	US-202017089584-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2020
Priority date	Nov 4, 2019
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

Embodiments of determining a hydraulic fracture completion configuration for a wellbore that extends through a subterranean formation are provided herein. Embodiments of performing a hydraulic fracturing operation on a wellbore that extends through a subterranean formation are also provided herein.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of determining a hydraulic fracture completion configuration for a wellbore that extends through a subterranean formation, the method comprising:
calculating a stress profile across a plurality of perforation clusters within a fracture stage of the wellbore;
calculating a fracture pressure parameter for each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage of the wellbore as a function of the stress profile across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a perforation friction that accounts for perforation hole erosion, a fracture net pressure, and a fracture closure pressure; and
determining a quantity of perforation clusters in the plurality of the perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a quantity of perforation holes for each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a diameter of the perforation holes for each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a spacing between each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, an injection distribution across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, or any combination thereof, for the hydraulic fracture completion configuration based on the calculated fracture pressure parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining based on the calculated fracture pressure parameters comprises iteratively adjusting the calculated fracture pressure parameters to reduce a variation in a distribution of the calculated fracture pressure parameters for the plurality of the perforation clusters within the fracture stage.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining based on the calculated fracture pressure parameters comprises iteratively adjusting the calculated fracture pressure parameters to identify the hydraulic fracture completion configuration with a closest match between a distribution of the calculated fracture pressure parameters for the plurality of the perforation clusters within the fracture stage to a targeted distribution of calculated fracture pressure parameters for the plurality of the perforation clusters within the fracture stage.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining based on the calculated fracture pressure parameters comprises iteratively adjusting the calculated fracture pressure parameters to reduce a variation in the injection distribution across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining based on the calculated fracture pressure parameters comprises iteratively adjusting the calculated fracture pressure parameters to identify the hydraulic fracture completion configuration with a closest match between the injection distribution across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage to a target injection distribution across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fracture pressure parameter for each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage of the wellbore is further calculated as a function of fracture height.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stress profile comprises an initial stress profile or changes thereto induced by a hydraulic fracturing operation, fluid depletion in the subterranean formation, one or more other wellbore operations, or any combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the changes to the initial stress profile induced by the hydraulic fracturing operation comprises hydraulic fracturing within the fracture stage in the wellbore, hydraulic fracturing in an adjacent fracture stage in the wellbore, hydraulic fracturing in a neighboring wellbore, or any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the injection distribution across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage further comprises using parameters to represent a quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a spacing between the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a diameter of the perforation holes for the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, the quantity of perforation holes for the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a perforation hole erosion value, a perforation phasing configuration, an injection pump rate, an injection fluid density, a fracture net pressure, a fracture height, and a fracture closure pressure.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the quantity of perforation holes for each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage further comprises using parameters to represent a quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a spacing between the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a diameter of the perforation holes for the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, a perforation hole erosion value, a perforation friction pressure target, a perforation phasing configuration, an injection pump rate, an injection fluid density, a fracture net pressure, a fracture height, and a fracture closure pressure.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a sensitivity analysis on the hydraulic fracture completion configuration using combinations of multiple values of the fracture net pressure, of fracture height, or both.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprises:
determining an injection pump rate across the plurality of perforation clusters within the fracture stage for the hydraulic fracture completion configuration, across at least one additional fracture stage for the hydraulic fracture completion confirmation, or any combination thereof;
wherein determining the injection pump rate further comprises using parameters to represent a minimum injection pump rate, a maximum injection pump rate, a minimum diameter of the perforation holes for the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage, and a maximum diameter of the perforation holes for the quantity of perforation clusters within the fracture stage.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a friction loss limit for the fracture stage of the wellbore, a friction loss limit for at least one additional fracture stage for the hydraulic fracture completion configuration, or any combination thereof;
wherein the friction loss limit is calculated based on a maximum allowable surface pressure, a hydrostatic pressure, the fracture net pressure, the fracture closure pressure, a net wellbore pressure, a target perforation friction, or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising calculating an injection pump rate for each fracture stage of the wellbore based on the friction loss limit, and optionally updating the hydraulic fracture completion configuration based on the injection pump rate for each fracture stage of the wellbore.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating the stress profile across the plurality of perforation clusters for multiple fracture stages of the wellbore;
calculating the fracture pressure parameter for each perforation cluster of the plurality of perforation clusters for the multiple fracture stages of the wellbore; and
determining the quantity of perforation clusters in the plurality of the perforation clusters for the multiple fracture stages, the quantity of perforation holes for each of the

Assignees

• Chevron Usa Inc

Inventors

• Singh Amit Kumar
• Jones Matthew C
• Malhotra Sahil
• Wehunt Clyde Dean
• Naik Sarvesh J
• Liu Xinghui

Classifications

• G06N7/01

  Probabilistic graphical models, e.g. probabilistic networks · CPC title

• G06N3/09

  Supervised learning · CPC title

• E21B43/26 Primary

  by forming crevices or fractures · CPC title

• G06F2113/08

  Fluids · CPC title

• E21B49/08

  Obtaining fluid samples or testing fluids, in boreholes or wells · CPC title