Effect of Depletion-Induced Stress Reorientation on Infill Well Fracture Propagation Available to Purchase

The long-term depletion of parent wells can result in the noticeable changes and reorientation of the in-situ stresses, which potentially can have a significant effect on the fracture propagation of infill wells. To understand the behavior of fractures under the effect of stress reorientation, a simulation workflow that combines the fluid mechanical coupling calculation in FLAC3D and the distinct element modeling of fracture propagation in 3DEC is adopted. In the beginning, a study of stress reorientation is presented. A series of simulations are conducted in FLAC3D to understand key parameters that control the evolution of the stress reversal region. Then, after computing new stress state influenced by production using FLAC3D, a fracture propagation model that respects the altered stress field is built in 3DEC to characterize the fracture propagation process and the stress distribution. Results show that horizontal stresses decrease in an elliptical region around the parent well which causes the hydraulic fractures of the infill well to propagate towards to the parent well and to develop asymmetry. The analysis presented in this work provides insights to the stimulation optimization of infill wells.