INDUCED FRACTURE DIMENSION PREDICTION METHOD BASED ON PRODUCTION AND PRESSURE DATA DURING WATERFLOODING

摘要

Waterflooding via injection of water into the reservoir is common to increase oil recovery. But water injectivity typically declines rapidly due to plugging and other reasons, and so reservoir pressure cannot be maintained. One solution to this problem is to inject water above the reservoir fracture gradient to induce fractures to maintain injectivity. This method is called Waterflooding with Induced Fractures. Based on published research, this type of waterflood can maintain the injectivity index longer than with simple matrix injection. It is particularly useful for low permeability reservoirs. Estimation of the induced fracture growth is of interest to engineers. One method to estimate fracture growth is the Fall-Off Test, but this requires the well to be shut-in which is inefficient. This paper proposes a new method to estimate fracture growth, based on injection pressure and rate. It does not require the well to be shut-in, and so continuous monitoring is possible.