Effect of advective flow in fractures and matrix diffusion on natural gas production
Abstract
Although hydraulic fracturing has been used for natural gas production for the past couple of decades, there are significant uncertainties about the underlying mechanisms behind the production curves that are seen in the field. A discrete fracture network-based reservoir-scale work flow is used to identify the relative effect of flow of gas in fractures and matrix diffusion on the production curve. With realistic three-dimensional representations of fracture network geometry and aperture variability, simulated production decline curves qualitatively resemble observed production decline curves. The high initial peak of the production curve is controlled by advective fracture flow of free gas within the network and is sensitive to the fracture aperture variability. Matrix diffusion does not significantly affect the production decline curve in the first few years, but contributes to production after approximately 10 years. These results suggest that the initial flushing of gas-filled background fractures combined with highly heterogeneous flow paths to the production well are sufficient to explain observed initial production decline. Lastly, these results also suggest that matrix diffusion may support reduced production over longer time frames.
- Authors:
-
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1265667
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1324565
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-14-26719
Journal ID: ISSN 0043-1397
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; AC52-06NA25396
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Water Resources Research
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 51; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 0043-1397
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 03 NATURAL GAS; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; energy sciences
Citation Formats
Karra, Satish, Makedonska, Nataliia, Viswanathan, Hari S., Painter, Scott L., and Hyman, Jeffrey D. Effect of advective flow in fractures and matrix diffusion on natural gas production. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1002/2014WR016829.
Karra, Satish, Makedonska, Nataliia, Viswanathan, Hari S., Painter, Scott L., & Hyman, Jeffrey D. Effect of advective flow in fractures and matrix diffusion on natural gas production. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016829
Karra, Satish, Makedonska, Nataliia, Viswanathan, Hari S., Painter, Scott L., and Hyman, Jeffrey D. Mon .
"Effect of advective flow in fractures and matrix diffusion on natural gas production". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016829. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1265667.
@article{osti_1265667,
title = {Effect of advective flow in fractures and matrix diffusion on natural gas production},
author = {Karra, Satish and Makedonska, Nataliia and Viswanathan, Hari S. and Painter, Scott L. and Hyman, Jeffrey D.},
abstractNote = {Although hydraulic fracturing has been used for natural gas production for the past couple of decades, there are significant uncertainties about the underlying mechanisms behind the production curves that are seen in the field. A discrete fracture network-based reservoir-scale work flow is used to identify the relative effect of flow of gas in fractures and matrix diffusion on the production curve. With realistic three-dimensional representations of fracture network geometry and aperture variability, simulated production decline curves qualitatively resemble observed production decline curves. The high initial peak of the production curve is controlled by advective fracture flow of free gas within the network and is sensitive to the fracture aperture variability. Matrix diffusion does not significantly affect the production decline curve in the first few years, but contributes to production after approximately 10 years. These results suggest that the initial flushing of gas-filled background fractures combined with highly heterogeneous flow paths to the production well are sufficient to explain observed initial production decline. Lastly, these results also suggest that matrix diffusion may support reduced production over longer time frames.},
doi = {10.1002/2014WR016829},
journal = {Water Resources Research},
number = 10,
volume = 51,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Mon Oct 12 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}
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