Modeling of fracturing, flow and geomechanics for analysis and optimization of shale gas/oil resources

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Shale gas is rapidly replacing tight gas as a main source of unconventional gas production. The stimulation and production techniques used are similar to tight gas, and employ new field techniques involving multiply fractured horizontal wells. However, there are large differences in physical mechanisms involved and the resulting approach needed to model them, primarily related to geomechanics of the shale formations. Commercially viable shale plays are often naturally fractured and the fracture system permeability and porosity varies with changing stress during stimulation as well as production. This leads to unconventional behavior during hydraulic fracturing, as well as subsequent production. Models incorporating geomechanics rigorously currently do not exist. The proposed research will provide new understanding of these phenomena and develop rigorous techniques to model them. The models will fully couple the fractured-media geomechanics of shales with dual porosity, convection and diffusion flow in shales, and hydraulic fracturing. In addition, the research will include integration with the rapidly developing discipline of microseismic monitoring, in order to improve the understanding of the relationship of microsismic events to fracture dimensions. The research is expected to have significant impact on both the analysis of the shale well performance and the optimization of the future development. The simulation tools developed will allow examining the similarities and differences of different shale plays and the parameters controlling their productivity, thereby providing industry with means to make better resource development decisions.