Feasibility Evaluation of Hydraulic Fracture Penetrating Propagation in Sand-Mud Interlayer Reservoirs under Different Combinations of Fracturing Parameters

Abstract Low-porosity, extra-low-permeability tight sandstone oil and gas reservoirs have become an important research area for hydraulic fracturing. Sand-mud interlayer is often developed in this type of reservoir in the longitudinal direction. The heterogeneous distribution of oil layers and mud shale barrier layers in the longitudinal direction will lead to restrict propagation of hydraulic fractures in the fracture height direction, which affects the effective stimulated reservoir volume significantly. In this paper, a finite element model of hydraulic fracture propagation in sand-mud interlayer was established based on the real characteristics of the target block formation to study the hydraulic fracture penetrating propagation feasibility under different combinations of fracturing parameters in the tight sandstone reservoir in the target block, and the model verification was completed with the field data. A total of three types of variable orthogonal combinations of 7 kinds of viscosities of fracturing fluid, 5 kinds of injection rate and 8 kinds of thicknesses of barrier layer were carried out to explore the penetration feasibility of hydraulic fracture under the commonly used combination of low injection flow rate and high viscosity in offshore and high injection flow rate and low viscosity in onshore shale gas reservoirs. And the feasibility evaluation plate of the hydraulic fracture penetration propagation in sand-mud interlayer is established. The method for evaluating the feasibility of hydraulic fracture penetrating propagation in sand-mud Interlayer under different combinations of fracturing parameters can be well applied to the tight sandstone reservoir in this paper. And it will provide theoretical guidance for hydraulic fracture design and fracturing parameter optimization. In addition, the method can also be applied to the fracturing development of shale reservoirs with sand-mud interlayers.