Effect of Re-fracturing on Production Profile in Shale Gas Well

Over the decades, the hydraulic fracturing was used as the stimulation technique for oil and natural gas production enhancement. Hydraulic fracturing is the technique to retrieve the production of the formation.
The new approach of stimulation was brought to oil and gas industry in order to enhance the production more effectively using re-fracturing method. Re-fracturing is relatively new technique which intrigued the oil and gas operators with potential success in stimulation. This case study was performed on real life Barnett and Woodford fields in order to discover how the re-fracturing impacts the production profile. By studying the specific treatments of the re-stimulation techniques and production data sets of other fields the outcomes of the study were also considered to obtain the concepts to how shale plays should be treated. In this case study both initial fracturing and re-fracturing operations were taken into account. The impact of these operations was analyzed on long term recovery. The other related available data and materials from other identical fields were also considered and analyzed for further investigation. The discussion also includes the well selection processes, re-fracturing approach and resulting improved production profiles.
However, the primary steps and operations were practiced in oil fields by Iranian companies, but the results were unproductive because of the improper candidate selection method of the wells for re-fracturing. There is no standard procedure to select the primary candidates. However, several factors are taken into account for Selection Method.
Several real life field operations, which involve the candidate selection for re-fracturing the wells, were studied. The selection method was based on the Fuzzy logic and Neural Network technique. The selection goes through a group of parameters having selection of the target formation, as well as different attributes and features, such as: geological aspect, reservoir and fluid characteristic (Abolfazl et al., 2013; Mansoor et al., 2013; Shahab et al., 2000). Such complex procedure, methodology and the logic behind that approach will be covered and discussed further. The utilization of such problem-solving tool can be considered as a great concern in the future.