Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Novel Oriented Perforation Approach for Fracturing Deep and Tight Reservoirs

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydraulic fracture initiation poses a challenging issue on fracturing wells landed in deep and tight reservoirs, often necessitating a high breakdown pressure for fracture initiation. Oriented perforation represents a potential solution to alleviate this issue, not only reducing the breakdown pressure but also enhancing fracture geometry alignment. This paper introduces a novel approach to address this issue, featuring a computational framework for calculating breakdown pressure and optimal perforation direction, along with a new perforation cluster layout design. The developed breakdown pressure model is capable, and applicable to various fracturing scenarios, including deviated, cased hole, and clustered perforation fracturing. It accounts for the casing-cement interaction effect and perforation quality. The optimal perforation direction is defined as the one along which hydraulic fractures can be initiated with the lowest breakdown pressure at a measured depth. Using the minimum breakdown pressure and its associated phase angle, the optimal perforation direction is subsequently calculated in terms of perforation azimuth and dip. This information will be used to control the perforation device, ensuring it rotates and fires at the optimal direction in downhole. Numerical examples are given to verify the model performance and effectiveness first. Then a field well case study is provided to further demonstrate how to use the approach to provide pre-fracturing suggestions in practice. The case study validated the accuracy and reliability on solving breakdown issue. To further enhance fracture initiation, a new perforation cluster layout design is also presented. The two central perforations, positioned next to each other, utilize a relatively larger perforation diameter with a phase difference of \({180}^{^\circ }\). The two central perforations will be aligned at the optimal perforation direction in subsurface, which facilitates faster and easier fracture initiation. Moreover, the new perforation design reduces near wellbore fracture tortuosity and minimizes entry pressure loss. All these efforts working together offer a significant improvement on fracture initiation for stimulating wells in deep and tight reservoirs.

Highlights

  • Successfully developed a novel computational framework for calculating the required breakdown pressure envelope applicable to cased hole, deviated and perforation hydraulic fracturing treatment.

  • Developed comprehensive formulations to calculate the optimal perforation direction, along which fracture initiation can be achieved with the lowest breakdown pressure.

  • A novel perforation cluster layout design is offered, which can further alleviate the breakdown issue for fracturing horizontal wells in deep and tight reservoirs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

\({\sigma }_{{\text{SHmin}}}\) :

Minimum horizontal stress

\({\sigma }_{{\text{V}}}\) :

Vertical stress

\({\sigma }_{{\text{SHmax}}}\) :

Maximum horizontal stress

\({x}_{{\text{G}}}^{n}{y}_{{\text{G}}}^{n}{z}_{{\text{G}}}^{n}\) :

Global coordinate system

\({x}_{{\text{B}}}^{n}{y}_{{\text{B}}}^{n}{z}_{{\text{B}}}^{n}\) :

Borehole coordinate system

\({x}_{{\text{P}}}^{m}{y}_{{\text{P}}}^{m}{z}_{{\text{P}}}^{m}\) :

Perforation coordinate system

\(P_{w}\) :

Borehole bottom pressure

\({\varvec{\sigma}}^{{\text{I}}}\) :

Induced stress around the perforation base due to in-situ stresses

\({\varvec{\sigma}}^{{{\text{II}}}}\) :

Induced stress around the perforation base due to wellbore pressure

\({\varvec{\sigma}}^{{{\text{III}}}}\) :

Induced stress around the perforation base due to the perforation pressure

\(\theta_{{\sigma_{{\text{H}}} }}\) :

The azimuth of maximum horizontal stress

\(\alpha_{{\text{D}}}\) :

Wellbore deviation at a measured depth

\(\alpha_{{\text{A}}}\) :

Wellbore azimuth at a measured depth

\({\alpha }_{{z}_{{\text{B}}}}^{n}\) :

Perforation phase angle

\({{\varvec{R}}}_{\mathbf{G}\to \mathbf{B}}^{{\varvec{n}}}\) :

Transformation matrix from global coordinate system to the borehole coordinate system

\({{\varvec{\sigma}}}^{\mathbf{G}}\) :

The in situ stresses tensor in the global coordinate system

\({{\varvec{\sigma}}}^{{\text{P}}}\) :

The total effective stress around the perforation base

\({{\varvec{\sigma}}}^{{\text{B}},I}\) :

The in-situ stresses tensor in the borehole coordinate system

\({\varvec{\sigma}}^{{\text{P,I}}}\) :

The in-situ stress tensor in the perforation coordinate system

\(\Delta {P}_{{\text{perf}}}\) :

Perforation pressure loss

\(\rho\) :

Fluid density

\(d\) :

Perforation diameter

\(C_{{\text{d}}}\) :

Perforation coefficient of discharge

\(Q\) :

The fluid flow rate

\(N\) :

The number of perforations for a perforation cluster

\(P_{{{\text{perf}}}}\) :

Perforation pressure

\({\beta }_{{\text{perf}}}\) :

The fraction of wellbore pressure effectively acting on the perforation tunnel

\({P}_{{\text{cr}}}\) :

The cement–formation interaction pressure

\({\beta }_{{\text{cr}}}\) :

The fraction of wellbore pressure transferred to the cement–formation interface

R os :

Casing outer radius

R is :

Casing inside radius

R oc :

Cement outer radius

R ic :

Cement inside radius

μ s :

Poisson’s ratio of casing

μ c :

Poisson’s ratio of cement

\({\sigma }_{R}^{{\text{B}},II}\) :

The induced radial stress at the perforation base due to the interface pressure \({P}_{{\text{cr}}}\)

\({\sigma }_{\theta }^{{\text{B}},II}\) :

The induced circumferential stress at the perforation base due to the interface pressure \({P}_{{\text{cr}}}\)

\({\text{Perf}}\_{\text{A}}{\text{ZI}}\) :

Perforation azimuth

\({\text{Perf}}\_{\text{DIP}}\) :

Perforation dip

References

  • Abass H, Meadows D, Brumley J, Hedayati S, Venditto J (1994) Oriented perforation—a rock mechanics view. In: SPE 28555. The SPE annual technical meeting, News Orleans, September 25–28, 1994

  • Almaguer J, Manrique J, Wickramasuriya S (2002) Orienting perforations in the right direction. Oilfield Rev 14:16–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Behrmann L, Elbel J (1991) Effect of perforations on fracture initiation. J Pet Technol 43(05):608–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benavides S, Myers W, VanSickle W, Vargervik K (2003) Advances in horizontal oriented perforating. In: SPE 81051. The SPE Latin American and Caribbean petroleum engineering conference, Trinidad, West Indies, 27–30 April, 2003

  • Bradley W (1979) Failure of inclined boreholes. ASME J Energy Resour Tech 101(4):232–239

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen SL, Han Y, Abousleiman YN (2023) Engineering charts development for poroelastic stress analysis of horizontal/inclined borehole and its application for breakdown pressure prediction. SPE J 28(3):1349–1368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng AHD (2016) Poroelasticity. Springer, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Detournay E, Cheng A (1992) Influence of pressurization rate on the magnitude of the breakdown pressure. In: The Proceedings of 33nd US rock mechanics symposium, Santa Fe, NM

  • Detournay E, Carbonell R (1997) Fracture-mechanics analysis of the breakdown pressure in minifracture or leakoff test. SPE Prod Fac 12(03):195–199

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • EL-Rabaa AM, Shah SN, Lord DL (1997) New perforation pressure loss correlations for limited entry fracturing treatments. In: SPR-38373. The proceedings of the SPE rocky mountain regional meeting. Casper, Wyoming, 18–21 May 1997

  • Fallahzadeh S, Rasouli V, Sarmadivaleh M (2015) An investigation of hydraulic fracturing initiation and near-wellbore propagation from perforated boreholes in tight formations. Rock Mech Rock Eng 48:573–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gan Q, Alpern JS, Marone C, Connolly P, Elsworth D (2013) Breakdown pressures due to infiltration and exclusion in finite length boreholes. In: Paper ID: ARMA 13–700. The proceedings of the 47th US rock mechanics/geomechanics symposium, San Francisco, CA USA

  • Garagash D, Detournay E (1997) An analysis of the influence of the pressurization rate on the borehole breakdown pressure. Int J Solids Struct 34(24):3099–3119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haimson B, Fairhurst C (1967) Initiation and extension of hydraulic fractures in rock. Soc Pet Eng 7:310–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haimson B, Fairhurst C (1969) Hydraulic fracturing in porous-permeable materials. J Pet Technol 21(7):811–817

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hossain MM, Rahman MK, Rahman SS (2000) Hydraulic fracture initiation and propagation: roles of wellbore trajectory, perforation and stress regime. J Pet Sci Eng 27:129–149

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hubbert MK, Willis DG (1957) Mechanics of hydraulic fracturing. Pet Trans AIME 210:153–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin X, Subhash NS, Roegiers JC, Hou B (2013) Breakdown pressure determination—a frachture mechanics approach. In: SPE-166434-MS, the proceedings of the SPE annual technical conference and exhibition, New Orleans, LA, USA

  • Kirsch G (1898) Die theorie der elastizitat und die bedurfnisse der festigkeitslehre. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Li Y (1991) On fracture initiation and propagation of fractures from deviated wellbores. Ph.D. thesis. The University of Texas at Austin

  • Manrique JF, Venkitaraman A (2001) Oriented fracturing—a practical technique for production optimization. In: Paper ID: SPE-71652-MS. The Proceedings of the SPE annual technical conference and exhibition, New Orleans, USA

  • Shi Y, Li B, Gu B, Guan Z, Li H (2015) An analytical solution to stress state of casing-cement sheath-formation system with the consideration of its initial loaded state and wellbore temperature variation. Int J Emerg Technol Adv Eng 5:59–65

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Van Ketterij R, De PaPater C (1999) Impact of perforations on hydraulic fracture tortuosity. SPE Prod Facil 14(2):117–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Waters G, Weng X (2016) The impact of geomechanics and perforations on hydraulic fracture initiation and complexity in horizontal well completions. SPE-181684-MS. In: The Proceedings of the SPE annual technical conference and exhibition held in Dubai, UAE, 26–28 September 2016

  • Weng X, Xu L, Magbagbeola O, MacPhail K, Uschner N (2018) Analytical model for predicting fracture initiation pressure from a cased and perforated wellbore. SPE-191462–18IHFT-MS. In: The Proceedings of the SPE international hydraulic fracturing technology conference and exhibition. Muscat, Oman, 16–18 October, 2018

  • Xia K, Mahmood T, Hassani S, Goteti R, Alzayer Y (2021) Injecting cooling agents to reduce breakdown pressure for open hole hydraulic fracturing treatment. Aramco J Technol Winter session:45–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Xia K, Cui Y (2022) Determining a subterranean formation breakdown pressure. US Patent No. 11255184 B1.

  • Zeng F, Cheng X, Guo J, Chen Z, Xiang J (2018) Investigation of the initiation pressure and fracture geometry of fractured deviated wells. J Pet Sci Eng 165:412–427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zeng F, Peng F, Zeng B, Guo J, Pati S, Zhang S, Cheng Z (2019) Perforation orientation optimization to reduce the fracture initiation pressure of a deviated cased hole. J Pet Sci Eng 177:829–840

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu H, Deng J, Jin X, Hu L, Luo B (2015) Hydraulic fracture initiation and propagation from wellbore with oriented perforation. Rock Mech Rock Eng 48(2):585–601

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zoback MD (2010) Reservoir geomechanics. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public. The paper was written based on the authors’ project currently conducted within Saudi Aramco.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saudi Aramco, 31311, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

    Kaiming Xia & Tariq Mahmood

  2. Aramco Asia, 4 East Wangjing Road, Beijing, 100102, China

    Yufeng Cui

Authors
  1. Kaiming Xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yufeng Cui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Tariq Mahmood
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaiming Xia.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare. We affirm our commitment to conducting this technical development with integrity and objectivity.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xia, K., Cui, Y. & Mahmood, T. A Novel Oriented Perforation Approach for Fracturing Deep and Tight Reservoirs. Rock Mech Rock Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-024-03846-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-024-03846-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation