ABSTRACT

In the Yufutsu oil/gas field in Hokkaido, Japan, approximately three-orders-of-magnitude difference in productivity was observed between two wells. However, it was not possible to reproduce the huge difference in well productivity by a conventional discrete fracture network (DFN) model simulation, despite a reliable fracture network model based on 3D seismic data, acoustic emission data, stress measurement, and well logging. Therefore, fluid flow simulations were conducted using a novel DFN model (the GeoFlow model), in which the heterogeneous aperture distribution was considered for the critically stressed fractures. As a result, it was demonstrated that conventional DFN models overestimated real area of flow paths by 3D channeling flow. Moreover, the huge difference in well productivity was successfully reproduced, which demonstrated that well understanding of 3D channeling flow in a fractured reservoir was one of the keys to predict well productivity.

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