Prediction of Geomechanical Modeling and Selection of Hydraulic Fracturing Candidate Layer in a Tight Reservoir in SW Iran: A Case Study

This study aims to investigate the use of hydraulic fracturing in the Bangestan reservoir in one of the major fields, which is in southwest Iran. It is a tight reservoir with natural fractures. Because hydraulic fracturing is one of the reservoir development techniques, it is extremely critical to determine the in situ stresses in order to assess the effectiveness of this technique in enhancing the reservoir’s production. For this purpose, a one-dimensional geomechanical model of the reservoir was developed. Geomechanical modeling was created based on the data available from the studied oil field wells as well as pre-existing experimental and mathematical correlations. The following criteria were determined for the candidate layer for hydraulic fracturing operations in the second stage of the research after determining the required geomechanical parameters: (1) appropriate porosity, (2) low in situ stress, (3) low water saturation, (4) low uniaxial compressive strength, and (5) high difference between the minimum and maximum horizontal stresses. The results of this study led to the selection of layer 3 of the reservoir as the target layer for hydraulic fracturing.