Interwell fracturing interference evaluation in shale gas reservoirs

Severe fracturing interference in multi-well pads has been identified in shale gas reservoirs. The gas production of affected multi-fractured horizontal wells (MFHWs) decrease a lot and it is hard to restore for most wells even after fracturing fluid flowback. Currently, well interference caused by fracturing operations has become the most important factor affecting the shale gas production. However, the mechanism of fracturing interference and its quantitative impact on gas production in shale gas reservoir are not clear. The aim of this work is to analyze the mechanism and dominated factors of fracturing interference of multi-well pads in shale gas reservoirs, and evaluate the impact of interwell fracturing interference on shale gas production. Firstly, field data in WY Basin are applied to calculate the ratio of impacted wells to newly fractured wells and understand the influencing degree and recovering degree of gas production. The dominated factors of fracturing interference are determined and the interwell fracturing interacting types are presented. Furthermore, the production recovering potential for impacted wells are analyzed. Finally, approaches for mitigating fracturing interference are provided. This work can provide reasonable suggestions for infill well optimization, fracturing design, and interwell fracturing interference mitigation to achieve the highest gas recovery of all multi-well pads in shale gas reservoirs.