Impact of Fracturing Geometry on the Selection of Propped Fracturing, Acid Fracturing, and Matrix Acidizing: A Numerical Simulation Study

This study evaluates the effectiveness of propped fracturing, acid fracturing, and matrix acidizing as oil and gas well stimulation techniques for carbonate reservoirs. There are several excellent studies on this topic in the literature with all concluding that as permeability of the formation decreases, propped fracturing becomes more favorable with longer fractures being more important. However, these studies uniformly implicitly assume that it is possible to create these longer propped fractures – but what if that is not the case? The selection of the optimal stimulation method is influenced by factors such as reservoir properties, formation damage mechanisms, and geomechanical parameters. In the case of fracturing, fracture geometry significantly impacts the contact area between the fracture and the reservoir, with excessive fracture height growth (out of the pay zone) adversely affecting stimulation efficiency. For tight reservoirs, propped fracturing is usually preferable when fracture height is well constrained, although this confinement is not always achieved. Numerical simulations are utilized to examine how fracture geometry affects the optimal stimulation technique selection.