The Effect of Fracturing Fluids Types on Reservoir Fracture Geometry, Production, and Net Present Value

Abstract

Unconventional reservoirs are distributed over a broad area and only generate commercial quantities of hydrocarbon using specialized technology. Tight reservoirs are reservoirs with permeability less than 0.1md. One of the leading oil fields in Iraq is Halfaya field. The tight reservoir is Saadi. It is a carbonate reservoir with poor petrophysical characteristics, moderate pores, and limited pore throats, so production from these reservoirs require hydraulic fracturing. The hydraulic fracturing can be carried out using fracturing fluid. The selection of fracturing fluids should be selected as the first step in fracturing design. The objective of this research is to find out the effect of fracturing fluids on the shape of the fracture formed. Three designs were constructed based on the fracturing fluids used to build fracturing models, where three kinds of fracturing fluids were used slickwater, guar, and hybrid (combination of slickwater and guar) with a pump rate 31.5 bpm. In the first design, the fracture's height extends up and down the Saadi formation due to the presence of fragile layers around Saadi formation, so fluids are produced from these three formations. In the second design, the fracture's height is limited within the Saadi formation from the top but extends to the Tanuma from below, and therefore the production will be from the Saadi and Tanuma reservoirs. Three hybrid treatments were analysed: 30% guar & 70% slickwater, 50% guar & 50% slickwater, and 70% guar & 30% slickwater. The results show that the third design (50% guar & 50% slickwater) give the best oil production and NPV.