The role of hydraulic fracture geometry and conductivity profile, unpropped zone conductivity and fracturing fluid flowback on production performance of shale oil wells

It was found that ignoring the presence of fracturing fluid in the simulation model overestimated oil recovery by about 18%. Assuming elliptical and rectangular shape hydraulic fractures with constant conductivity overestimated the oil recovery factor by 27% and 35%, respectively. The conductivity of the unpropped zone affected the predicted recovery factor by as much as 50%. For the case investigated, most of fracturing fluid recovery occurred during the first year and particularly the first 2 months of production.