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Double-Porosity Reservoirs
Jacques Hagoort, SPE, Hagoort & Associates B.V.
Original SPE manuscript received for review 8 March 2007. Revised manuscript received
where B is the formation volume factor of the fluid and VR is the
for review 18 February 2008. Paper peer approved 23 February 2008. reservoir bulk volume. Following Warren and Root (1963), the
冋 册
with a permeability equal to the effective fracture permeability, kf .
Once the pressure distribution in the fractures is known, the Bqsc 2kf 共1 − 兲2
pw = pfm − ln共re Ⲑ rw兲 − 0.75 + . . . . . . . (15)
pressure distribution in the matrix-block system follows from 2kf h kmr2e
qscB共1 − 兲 The PI of a well in the center of a single-porosity circular reservoir
pm = pf + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (6)
kmVR with permeability kf is given by (Dietz 1965)
Eq. 6 is obtained by substitution of Eqs. 3 and 4 into Eq. 2. It 2kf h
Jsp = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (16)
shows that in any point in the double-porosity reservoir, the matrix B关ln共re Ⲑ rw兲 − 0.75兴
pressure is higher than the fracture pressure by a constant amount.
The PI of a well in a dual-porosity reservoir is defined by Upon substitution of Eq. 16 into Eq. 15, the double-porosity
PI becomes
qsc
Jdp = , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (7) qsc Jsp
pfm − pw Jdp = = , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (17)
pfm − pw B共1 − 兲2
where pfm is the average pressure in the dual-porosity reservoir and 1+ Jsp
pw is the well pressure. The average pressure is related to the kmhr2e
average pressure in the fractures and in the matrix by which is Eq. 14 for a circular reservoir.
pfm = pf + 共1 − 兲pm, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (8) Orthogonally Fractured Reservoirs
where is the storativity ratio defined by We shall now elaborate Eq. 14 for an orthogonally fractured, box-
shaped reservoir that is depleted by a single vertical or horizontal
共c兲f well (see Fig. 1). The reservoir has a length L, width w, and
= . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (9)
共c兲f + 共c兲m thickness h. The outer boundaries of the reservoir are closed. We
assume that the matrix blocks are all identical and that their bound-
As we have seen above, the matrix pressure is higher than the ing planes are parallel to the plane boundaries of the reservoir. The
fracture pressure by a constant amount. Consequently, the average length, width, and thickness of the matrix blocks are denoted by Lx,
matrix pressure differs from the average fracture pressure also by Ly, and Lz, respectively. Fluid is withdrawn from the reservoir
the same amount. Hence, through a vertical or horizontal well that is producing at either
qscB共1 − 兲 a constant well rate or a constant well pressure. The horizontal well
pm = pf + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (10) lies parallel to the length direction of the reservoir. Determining
kmVR
the stabilized PI of a well in this reservoir with Eq. 14 amounts to
Substitution of the average matrix pressure given by Eq. 10 into Eq. the evaluation of the PI of the well in a single-porosity, anisotro-
8 then gives the average pressure in the double-porosity reservoir: pic, box-shaped reservoir and to the shape factor of orthogonal
matrix blocks.
qscB共1 − 兲2
pfm = pf + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (11)
kmVR Anisotropic PI. The productivity of vertical and horizontal wells
in single-porosity, box-shaped reservoirs has been dealt with ex-
The average pressure in the fracture network follows from the tensively in the literature. See, for example, Dietz (1965), Helmy
solution of the single-porosity Eq. 5 for a given well and reservoir and Wattenbarger (1998), Babu and Odeh (1989), Goode and Ku-
configuration. Suppose that this solution is known and that the asso- chuk (1991), and Hagoort (2006). Of particular importance is the
ciated PI of the well is given by Jsp, where the subscript sp denotes effect of permeability anisotropy caused by the fracture network.
single porosity. From the definition of the PI, it then follows Since the fracture planes run parallel to the bounding planes of the
qsc
pf = pw + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12)
Jsp
Substitution of Eq. 12 into Eq. 11 gives the pressure drawdown:
qsc qscB共1 − 兲2
pfm − pw = + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (13)
Jsp kmVR
Finally, substitution of Eq. 13 into Eq. 7 yields the double-
porosity PI:
Jsp
Jdp = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (14)
B共1 − 兲2
1+ Jsp
kmVR Fig. 1—Rectangular reservoir with orthogonal matrix blocks.
Leq =
公kfykfz
kfeq
L= 冑 kfeq
kfx
L, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (19)
sdp = 2
Lw
, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (30)
weq =
公kfxkfz
kfeq
w= 冑 kfeq
kfy
w, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (20) Shape factors. The shape factor of an orthogonal matrix block can
be derived from the long-time solution of the pressure distribution
and in the block with an initial uniform pressure and with a constant,
冑
lower pressure at the outer-block boundary. The solution can be
公kfxkfy kfeq obtained readily from the known analytical solution for the equiva-
heq = h= h. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (21) lent-heat-conduction problem discussed by Carlslaw and Jaeger
kfeq kfz
(1959). At long times, the average temperature in the block and the
The coordinate transformation also affects the well geometry, spe- total heat flux at the boundary of the block decline exponentially.
cifically the length and radial cross section. The equivalent well The shape factor for isotropic matrix blocks is then given by
冉 冊
length of a vertical well and of a horizontal well in the length 1 1 1
direction becomes = 2 2 + 2 + 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (31)
冑
Lx Ly Lz
kfeq In the case of vertical slabs, Lx and Ly are infinity, and the shape
hweq = h . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (22)
kfz w factor reduces to ⳱2/L2z . Likewise, we have for the shape factor
and of square vertical pillars (Lz is infinity and Lx=Ly): ⳱22/L2x ; and
for the shape factor of identical cubes (Lx=Ly=Lz): ⳱32/L2x .
Lweq = 冑 kfeq
kfx w
L , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (23)
Inserting Eq. 31 into Eq. 28, we obtain for the double-porosity skin
sdp =
2共kf h兲eqL2x共1 − 兲2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (32)
respectively. Upon transformation, the circular cross section of the kmLwh共1 + L2x Ⲑ L2y + L2x Ⲑ L2z 兲
well becomes elliptic. The equivalent well radius of an elliptic well In passing, we note that the expression for the shape factor
is the average of the minor and major axis of the ellipse (Kuchuk given by Eq. 31 differs from the shape factor for slabs, square
and Brigham 1979). For the vertical well, we then have pillars, and cubes originally proposed by Warren and Root (1963).
rwveq =
rw
2
冉冑 冑 冊 kfeq
kfx
+
kfeq
kfy
, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (24)
Their shape factor for a slab is 12/L2x , which is based on the
long-time analytical solution for the 1D pressure depletion of a
slab at a constant rate. The shape factors for a square pillar (32/L2x )
and for the horizontal well we have and a cube (60/L2x ) were obtained from a heuristic generalization of
冉冑 冑 冊
the 1D shape factor to two and three dimensions. In the double-
rw kfeq kfeq porosity model, however, a matrix block is surrounded by a fluid
rwheq = + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (25) at a certain pressure. Therefore, constant pressure is a more-fitting
2 kfy kfz
boundary condition, and Eq. 31 is more appropriate for the prob-
The PI of a well in an anisotropic, double-porosity reservoir lem in question.
follows from the PI of the equivalent well in the equivalent single-
porosity reservoir through Eq. 14. In the case of a constant- Example. As an example, let us consider an orthogonally fractured
thickness reservoir, this equation can be formulated more conve- reservoir with a square drainage area, which is being depleted by
niently in dimensionless form by introducing a dimensionless PI a vertical, fully penetrating well in the center. In addition, we
defined by assume that the matrix consists of identical cubes and that the
fracture permeability is isotropic. The dimensionless PI for the
B
JD = J, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (26) single-porosity reservoir is then given by
2共kf h兲eq
JspD = 1 Ⲑ 关ln共L Ⲑ rw兲 + C兴, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (33)
where (kfh)eq is the flow capacity of the equivalent reservoir. Eq. where C is a constant that depends on the depletion mode. In the
14 then becomes case of depletion at a constant rate, C⳱−1.311; and for depletion
JspD at a constant pressure, C⳱−1.285. These constants follow directly
JdpD = , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (27) from the Dietz shape factor (Dietz 1965) for a well in the center of
1 + sdpJspD a square drainage area, which is 30.88 for constant rate (Ear-
where lougher 1977) and 29.34 for constant pressure (Helmy and Wat-
tenbarger 1998). Substitution of Eq. 33 into Eq. 27 and conversion
2共kf h兲eq共1 − 兲2 to dimensional form yields the following expression for the
sdp = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (28)
kmVR double-porosity PI:
The factor sdp plays the same role as the skin factor in the familiar 2kf h
Jdp = , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (34)
well inflow formulas, and for this reason, it may be called double- B关ln共L Ⲑ rw兲 + C + sdp兴
再
Produced at Constant Pressure. Paper SPE 39970 presented at the SPE
Gas Technology Symposium, Calgary, 15–18 March. DOI: 10.2118/ Bqsc
⌬pxy = −ln关共0.5Lw Ⲑ w兲 sin共ywD兲兴
39970-MS. 2kh
冎
Kuchuk, F. and Brigham, W.E. 1979. Transient Flow in Elliptical Systems.
SPEJ 19 (6): 401–410; Trans., AIME, 267. SPE-7488-PA. DOI:
2L 3
+ 关x + 共1 − xwD兲3兴 , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A-4)
10.2118/7488-PA. 3w wD
Lee, A.L., Gonzalez, M.H., and Eakin, B.E. 1977. The Viscosity of Natural where xw and yw indicate the coordinates of the midpoint of the
Gases. Reprint Series, SPE, Richardson, Texas 1 (13): 201–204. horizontal well with respect to the center of the rectangular reser-
Muskat, M. 1937. The Flow of Homogeneous Fluids Through Porous voir. Here, the first term on the right-hand side represents the
Media. New York City: McGraw-Hill Book Co. near-fracture pressure drop, and the second term represents the
Peaceman, D.W. 1990. Discussion of Productivity of a Horizontal Well. pressure drawdown for stabilized flow at a constant rate. Reser-
SPERE 5 (2): 252–253. voirs with aspect ratios less than unity can be handled by setting
Prats, M. 1961. Effect of Vertical Fractures on Reservoir Behavior— the x-axis parallel to the longest side.
Incompressible Fluid Case. SPEJ 1 (2): 105–118; Trans., AIME, 222. For long fractures, the horizontal pressure drawdown is given by
再 冎
SPE-1575-G. DOI: 10.2118/1575-G.
Bqsc 2w 3
Warren, J.E. and Root, P.J. 1963. The Behavior of Naturally Fractured ⌬pxy = 关y + 共1 − ywD兲3兴 + Fwxy , . . . . . . . . (A-5)
Reservoirs. SPEJ 3 (3): 245–255; Trans., AIME, 228. SPE-426-PA. 2kh 3L wD
DOI: 10.2118/426-PA. (Hagoort 2006), where the parameter Fwxy is given by
⌬pxy =
Bqsc
2kh 再
−ln关共2rw Ⲑ w兲 sin共ywD兲兴
and the slopes at LwD⳱0.3 and LwD⳱0.8.
The near-well pressure drop in the vertical plane is given by
Bqsc
+
2L 3
冎
关x + 共1 − xwD兲3兴 , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (A-1)
3w wD
⌬pwyz = −
2kLw
ln关共2rw Ⲑ h兲 × sin共zw Ⲑ h兲兴. . . . . . . . . . . . (A-7)
Eq. A-7 is similar to the first term in Eq. A-1, but now, the
where ywD⳱yw/w and xwD⳱xw/L. The first term on the right-hand near-well pressure drop is taken in the vertical y–z plane perpen-
side of Eq. A-1 represents the steady-state, near-well pressure dicular to the well axis.
drop, and the second term represents the stabilized pressure draw- Once the horizontal pressure drawdown and the vertical near-
down for linear flow. Eq. A-1 is an close approximation for aspect well pressure drop are known, the PI can be deduced straightfor-
ratios L/w that are greater than unity. Aspect ratios that are less wardly from Eqs. A-2 and A-3.
than unity can be accommodated by replacing xwD with ywD, re- Eqs. A-4 and A-5 hold for depletion at a constant rate. The
placing ywD with xwD, and replacing L/w with w/L. same equations apply to depletion at a constant pressure, provided