Analysis of Forge DFIT Considering Hydraulic and Natural Fracture Interactions

Abstract

Minifrac is a technique used for determination of the minimum in-situ stress and can be used in estimating reservoir properties such as pore pressure. Historically, Nolte’s G-function has been used to estimate the closure stress by drawing a tangent line to G dp/dG plot. The method is based on the assumption that a single planar fracture forms with injection. However, the presence of natural fractures and other rock fabric features, as well as coupled process can complicate the pressure data and the interpretation of DIFT. In this work, we use a fully 3D hydraulic/natural fracture simulator to study the complex interaction of hydraulic and natural fractures and their signatures on the pressure data. We use the model to shed light on the complex pressure data from FORGE and to provide a better estimate of the minimum in-situ stress and reservoir properties.