Rapid multistage hydraulic fracture design and optimization in unconventional reservoirs using a novel Fast Marching Method

Optimum fracture spacing need not necessarily be uniformly distributed along the horizontal wellbore, especially when prior reservoir properties, for example natural fracture density, are available from well logs and other sources. A systematic and efficient approach to fracture design will be demonstrated, constrained by long-term well performance while accounting for specific economic parameters. The power and practical utility of the proposed approach is demonstrated using a three-dimensional synthetic example. We find that there are an optimum number of fracture stages for a given reservoir. If adequate geological, geophysical, and engineering data are available to estimate reservoir heterogeneity before hydraulic fracturing, fracturing spacing can be further optimized instead of evenly spaced. If there is uncertainty associated with reservoir heterogeneity, multiple realizations can be integrated in the proposed optimization workflow.