Courtney Beck, Anna Khadeeva, Bhaskar Sarmah, and Andrew Whitsett,
Halliburton
Trey Kimbell,
Burk Royalty
Understanding natural fracture systems plays a key role in tight carbonate fields where production is dependent on secondary porosity and pore connectivity. Locating geographic and stratigraphic areas with high natural fracture density and optimizing horizontal well plans to connect fractures can enhance well performance and asset value. A workflow to identify the influence of natural fractures on well performance was conducted in the stacked carbonate play in east Texas. Density, resistivity, and gamma ray logs were used to generate an index curve to identify natural fractures. In wells with image log data, a reasonable correlation was observed between the fracture zones selected by this model and the image log interpretation. The index curve was calibrated with image log interpretation, and applied in other wells without image logs. Identifying the optimal distance from the fault where fractures are still present has become the main criterion for selecting locations for horizontal wells.