Advanced Hydraulic Fracture Characterization Using Pulse Testing Analysis

Effective hydraulic fracture characterization is important for successful reservoir stimulation. This represents one of the primary challenges for completion engineers in the oil and gas industry, especially for unconventional tight gas reservoirs which are important sources of gas production in the US. Multi-stage hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells is the most popular completion method for these types of reservoirs. An advanced methodology has been developed to characterize hydraulic fractures via pulse testing analysis. This technique combines analytical solutions and numerical modeling based on the pressure pulse response recorded at offset wells before, during, and after horizontal well fracture operations to characterize fracture orientation, height, and length. Different conceptual models were tested for random well pair spacing and orientations to generate correlations and families of type curves for a single-stage vertical fracture characterization. The methodology was then expanded to be implemented in more complex cases of multi-stage fractures. For validation and calibration purposes, a case study for a single fracture characterization was presented to match the numerical results with the field data. A good agreement in fracture orientation, height, and length was obtained with this reasonably cost-effective technique.