Near-Fracture Capillary End Effect on Shale-Gas and Water Production
Riza Elputranto, I. Yücel Akkutlu
Abstract
Summary Capillary end effect (CEE) develops in tight gas and shale formations near hydraulic fractures during flowback of the fracturing-treatment water and extends into the natural-gas-production period. In this study, a new multiphase reservoir-flow-simulation model is used to understand the role the CEE plays on the removal of the water from the formation and on the gas production. The reservoir model has a matrix pore structure mainly consisting of a network of microfractures and cracks under stress. The model simulates high-resolution water/gas flow in this network with a capillary discontinuity at the hydraulic-fracture/matrix interface. The simulation results show that the CEE causes significant formation damage during the production period by holding the water saturation near the fracture at higher levels than that using only the spontaneous imbibition of water. The effect makes water less mobile, or trapped, in the formation during the flowback, and tends to block gas flow during the production. The effect during the production is more important relative to the changing stress. We showed that the CEE cannot be removed completely but can be reduced significantly by controlling the production rate.