Abstract
Upper Baharyia formation is a common reservoir in the Western Desert of Egypt. It is characterized as a heterogeneous reservoir with low sand quality and shale interbeds that make hydraulic fracturing a mandatory technique to economically develop these marginal fields. The continuous economic field development requires an efficient application of hydraulic fracturing, which, in turn, requires understanding fracture propagation paths and the area of pay affected by the fracture treatment to optimize well spacing and placement and determining the best injection pattern for optimizing sweep efficiency. To optimize the fracture design, a microseismic monitoring technique was implemented for the first time in Khalda concession, Western Desert of Egypt to diagnose the hydraulic fracture and improve field development strategies. Two hydraulically fractured wells were monitored in an attempt to assess the fracture propagation and perform fracture model calibration to develop a predictive tool for hydraulic fracture design and to indicate the fracture growth as the fractures are being created by rock failure.
The objectives of this fracture mapping were to (1) measure fracture geometry (height, length and azimuth) and (2) provide immediate information that could be used on offset spacing and azimuth strategy associated with future wells. The results of microseismic fracture mapping are being integrated with the planned stimulation model, mini-frac data, stress profile and geological information shall be combined to calibrate the fracturing model for future fracturing campaigns in Upper Baharyia formation.
