Section 10b

Naturally Fractured or Dual Porosity Reservoirs

References:
i. Warren, J. E., and P. J Root. The behavior of naturally fractured reservoirs. SPE Journal, 1963.
ii. Horne, Roland N. "Modern well test analysis." Petroway Inc (1995).
iii. Sabet, Mohamed A. Well test analysis. Houston: Gulf Publishing Company, 1991.
iv. Earlougher, Robert C. Advances in well test analysis. New York: Henry L. Doherty Memorial Fund of AIME, 1977.

Naturally fractured reservoirs (NFRs) are distinctly different from conventional reservoirs
and can be viewed as conventional reservoirs with a fractured network superimposed on
them. As such a fractured reservoir is often viewed as matrix blocks separated by fractures.

Such reservoirs are heterogeneous with distinct primary and secondary porosity and the
pressure transients in these reservoirs exhibit what are termed dual porosity or double
porosity behaviour.

In a dual porosity reservoir, a porous "matrix" of lower transmissivity (primary porosity) is

adjacent to a higher transmissivity medium (secondary porosity), and the reservoir is often
described in terms of fractures and porous matrix blocks.

Of note is that the pressure transient behaviour of dual porosity reservoirs is similar to that
observed in thin stratigraphic sequences of differing permeability (e.g. sandy vs silty zones).

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Fluid storativity is often associated with both the fractures (secondary porosity) and the
matrix (primary porosity), but transmissivity is associated mainly with the fractures (fissures
and vugs). It is also assumed that fluid flows from the matrix blocks to the fractures, and
from the fractures to the wellbore.

The following properties have been defined for the two media:
km = matrix permeability
m = matrix porosity
ctm = total matrix system compressibility
kf = fracture permeability
f = fracture porosity
ctf = total fracture compressibility

The fracture porosity f may be very low, since the fracture volume is usually only a very
small part of the total, while the fracture compressibility ctf is often very large due to the
inflation/deflation effect as pressure changes in the fracture.

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Several terms have been defined for naturally fractured reservoirs and include the following.

Dimensionless pressure, which is based on fracture transmissivity:

kfh
pD p
141.2qB

Dimensionless time, which is based on total (fracture plus matrix) storativity:

0.000264k f t
tD
c
f tf mctm r w2

The storativity ratio, , which relates the secondary (or fracture) storativity to that of the
entire system:
f ct f

f ct f m ctm

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The interporosity flow parameter - which depends on the transmissivity ratio, where
km 2
rw
kf

Here is a factor that depends on the geometry of the flow between the matrix and the
fractures and is given by
A

xV

A is the surface area of the matrix block, V is the matrix volume, and x is a characteristic
length (dependent on whether the matrix blocks are modelled as cubes, spheres, cylinders
or slabs).

can be less than or equal to one with the special case of =1 occurring when the matrix
porosity is zero. The latter refers to a reservoir that is single porosity.

In naturally fractured reservoirs, f is commonly less than 0.1.

Values of are usually very small (for example, 10 -3 to 10-10). If the value of is larger
than 10-3, the level of heterogeneity is insufficient for dual porosity effects to be of
importance, and the reservoir acts as a single porosity reservoir.

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In Drawdown and Buildup tests, due to the two separate "porosities" in the reservoir, the
dual porosity system has a response that may show characteristics of both of them.

The secondary porosity (fractures), having the greater transmissivity and being connected
to the wellbore, responds first.

The primary porosity does not flow directly into the wellbore and is of lower
transmissivity, therefore responds much later.

The combined effect of the two systems

gives rise to two separate semilog straight
line responses.

For both buildup and drawdown test,

determination of m gives rise to the kh
product, while s can be calculated using
p1hr from the second straight time or its
extrapolation.

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In the Drawdown test, the double
straight line behaviour may be
disguised by effects of

(1) Wellbore storage (which may

hide the secondary porosity
transient completely) or

(2) Boundary effects (which may

have an effect on the later
transient before the primary
porosity behaviour is evident).

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On the buildup plot, the second
straight line can be extrapolated to
give p* at infinite shutin time.

Estimating - ratio of fractures

to total ct: From buildup test
data, the theory indicates that the
vertical distance between the two
semilog straight lines, identified as
p, can be used to estimate the
ratio of the porosity -
compressibility product in the
fracture to that for the total system
i.e. = Fft = antilog(- p/m)

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The time at which the transition between them occurs is dependent on . In modern
analysis it is much more common to estimate and using the pressure derivative plot.