Fracture Stimulation Optimization for Tight Gas Sands* - Available in RAPID

Currently, numerous oil and gas companies are directing their efforts toward the exploration and exploitation of tight gas sand reservoirs. These reservoirs have proved to be challenging in terms of reservoir characterization and optimizing fracture stimulation techniques. Many companies do not have key rock property data that are crucial for understanding these reservoirs and for designing optimal fracture stimulations. Many treatment options are available and operators are often left with very expensive "trial and error" field testing of various fracture stimulation techniques. No hydraulic fracture design can be optimized, or in many cases, successfully performed or pumped in the field without rock property data. Therefore, in order to properly evaluate and exploit tight gas sands, appropriate types of rock property data need to be measured and integrated with log data, stimulation techniques, and production test information. These integrated data sets and case histories provide operators with the critical parameters to optimize their exploitation of these reservoirs and reduce finding and development costs.

Core Laboratories is conducting a major industry study of the reservoir characteristics and fracture stimulation response of tight gas sands. This project provides member companies with a comprehensive database consisting of laboratory rock property measurements, well log and production information from contributed wells, and case histories of production response to fracture stimulation from numerous formations and basins throughout North America. From the pore system through the 3-D Frac design and post-frac evaluation, this project relates reservoir facies, reservoir quality, petrophysical properties and geomechanical properties to stimulation methods and production performance in tight gas sands.

Major objectives of the project include the following:

• Geologically characterize tight gas reservoirs in terms of depositional facies, environment of deposition, and rock types
• Characterize and systematically classify the rock types and factors controlling reservoir quality
• Describe and characterize fracture systems
• Provide laboratory measured petrophysical properties for log calibration and pay recognition criteria
• Develop saturation and permeability models
• Determine the rock-fluid compatibility, regained gas permeability, and "water block" susceptibility
• Measure the key geomechanical properties required for 3-D Frac design
• Facilitate calibration of open-hole geomechanical logs with static geomechanical laboratory data
• Integrate core data with well logs, fracture stimulation techniques and production test results
• Available in RAPIDLink™

* This large and comprehensive project is on-going and available for participation