--> Abstract: Development of a Fractured Reservoir Model for the Mesaverde Formation to Support Hydrofracturing Design, Natural Buttes Area, Uinta Basin, UT, by Paul La Pointe and Hope Sisley; #90169 (2013)
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Development of a Fractured Reservoir Previous HitModelNext Hit for the Mesaverde Formation to Support Hydrofracturing Design, Natural Buttes Area, Uinta Basin, UT

Paul La Pointe and Hope Sisley
Golder Associates Inc.

The role of natural fractures in the stimulation and production of tight sand and shale reservoirs has been the subject of numerous investigations. Newly-developed geomechanical multiphase models provide a more comprehensive way to understand the interaction between the induced hydrofractures and the natural fracture system and optimize development. A conceptual Previous HitmodelNext Hit for the origin of the natural fracture system in the Mesaverde Formation of the Uinta Basin was developed to test this technology. This conceptual Previous HitmodelNext Hit was then implemented as a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) Previous HitmodelNext Hit, and the DFN Previous HitmodelNext Hit was validated by comparing the Previous HitmodelNext Hit to subsurface fracture data, and the Previous Hitmodel'sNext Hit simulated microseismic response to measured microseismicity. Field studies of fracturing in the Mesaverde Formation and other formations within the Uinta Basin, supplemented by subsurface fracture image log data and core were Previous HitusedNext Hit to develop a conceptual Previous HitmodelNext Hit for the origin and variability of natural fractures in the Uinta Basin. They indicated that there were two families of natural fractures, one related to structural folding, and a second related to in-situ hydrofracturing produced by excess fluid or gas pressures in the rock during hydrocarbon generation and burial. This Previous HitmodelNext Hit was then evaluated in the Natural Buttes area and predicted fracture geometry that matched image log data. A well-scale DFN Previous HitmodelNext Hit was created and Previous HitusedNext Hit to simulate the growth and interaction of the hydraulic fracture with the natural fracture system. The microseismicity of the Previous HitmodelNext Hit compared well with the measured microseismicity of a nearby well, validating the conceptual Previous HitmodelTop of fracturing and providing a new means to study the interaction between the natural fracture system and the hydrofracturing process.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90169©2013 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section 62nd Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah, September 22-24, 2013