Open AccessCasing Deformation Caused by Hydraulic Fracturing-Induced Fault Slip in Sichuan Basin and Optimization of Treatment Parameters
Author(s) -
Rui Huang,
Zhaowei Chen,
Bo Zeng,
Yujia Song,
Xiaojin Zhou
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.179
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/570/2/022057
Subject(s) - casing , hydraulic fracturing , geology , microseism , slip (aerodynamics) , fracturing fluid , deformation (meteorology) , petroleum engineering , fault (geology) , geotechnical engineering , fracture (geology) , seismology , engineering , oceanography , aerospace engineering
Casing deformation is a key issue that restricts the efficient development of shale gas in the Sichuan Basin. In this study, the H pad of shale gas wells in this area is used to determine correlations among the casing deformation and ant-tracking faults, microseismic events, and treatment pressure. The results show that the deformation might have been caused by fault slip induced by hydraulic fracturing. Moreover, three-dimensional seismic and well log data are used to establish fracture and in situ stress models based on discrete fracture network and finite element methods, respectively. The relationship between treatment parameters and fault activation is established by hydraulic fracturing simulation, from which the parameter sensitivity is evaluated. The results show that when the fluid volume is reduced by 20%, the length of the activated fault and the number of activated fractures decrease by 9% and 23%, respectively. In contrast, when the pumping rate is reduced by 20%, these parameters decrease by 25% and 38%, respectively. These results indicate that reducing the pumping rate is more effective than reducing the fluid volume for mitigating fault activation. In summary, arranging the fracture stages adjacent to the fracture zones should reduce the pumping rate to some extent. This method can be used to mitigate fault activation during hydraulic fracturing, which in turn can prevent casing deformation.