A multiscale model for methane transport mechanisms in shale gas reservoirs

Abstract

Abstract We presented an efficient semi-analytical model-based analysis of methane transport in shale reservoirs including multiple horizontal wells with nanopores and complex hydraulic fractures. Multiple important gas transport mechanisms in nanopores such as gas desorption, gas slippage and diffusion and pressure-dependent fracture conductivity are fully incorporated in the model. Both simple and complex fractures in multiple shale-gas wells can be easily and effectively dealt with in accordance with the discretization approach, which does not require detailed gridding like numerical model. The superposition principle is utilized to capture the interactions between all fracture segments in order to accurately simulate real gas transport from matrix to fractures and finally from fractures to wellbores. We verified the semi-analytical model against a numerical compositional reservoir model for two shale-gas wells with multiple simple planar hydraulic fractures considering the gas desorption effect. The semi-analytical model was used to analyze ultimate gas recovery of different complex hydraulic fracture patterns in a two-well scenario, which were generated from a complex fracture propagation model with and without considering natural fractures. In addition, it was applied to perform field-scale simulation with multiple wells and complex fracture geometries in accordance with microseismic data. The simulation results show that multiple gas transport mechanisms, pressure-dependent fracture conductivity and complex fracture geometries play an important role in controlling well productivity and gas recovery, which should be properly accounted for in the physical model in order to achieve more accurate long-term production forecasting of multiple-fractured shale-gas horizontal wells.