SIMULATION OF THE HYDRAULIC FRACTURING OPERATION IN SHALE GAS FORMATIONS

Abstract

Currently the production of gas from shale-rich formations is one of the areas of greatest expansion in oil exploration. Due to the extremely low permeability to achieve success in this type of formation, it is essential to use horizontal wells associated with the hydraulic fracturing technique, which in turn aims to increase gas production by connecting a network of fractures to the well. However, the hydraulic fracture path and the parameters that influence this operation are still the focus of discourse in the geotechnical community. This study consists in the construction of a numerical model in a finite element software for initialization and propagation analysis of hydraulic fractures in low permeability and impermeable formations, aiming at exposing the factors that govern the hydraulic fracturing operation.