IPTC-18261-MS

Impact of Wellbore Completion Type on Fracture Initiation Pressure in

Maximum Tensile Stress Criterion Model for Tight Gas Field in the
Sultanate of Oman
Andreas Briner, and Juan Chavez Florez, PDO; Sergey Nadezhdin, and Nihat Gurmen, Schlumberger;
Olga Alekseenko, Sergey Cherny, Dmitry Kuranakov, and Vasily Lapin, ICT

Copyright 2015, International Petroleum Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology Conference held in Doha, Qatar, 7–9 December 2015.

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Abstract
A detailed geomechanical study has been performed for a tight field in the Sultanate of Oman. This study
included computation of fracture initiation pressure (FIP) applying the boundary element method (BEM)
and maximal tensile stress (MTS) criterion using 3D numerical modeling. The goal of the present work
is to numerically simulate the effects of wellbore completion type on FIP with arbitrary wellbore position
and finding the conditions that correspond to the lowest FIP. The model is based on the BEM. Since the
equations and correlations are not empirical and not field-specific, the model is applicable to a wide range
of conditions. The data used for this project were from different zones and blocks of a tight gas-bearing
sandstone field in the Sultanate of Oman. The amount and quality of available data allowed comprehen-
sive model development. The model is built for the four blocks of the main field, but can be applied to
the other blocks and fields. Two horizontal wells parallel to each other 400 m apart have been recently
completed with different completion types, which allowed reasonable comparison of actual and modeled
breakdown pressures for open and cased holes. Two vertical wells in different blocks have been completed
with openhole sections with subsequent placement of hydraulic fractures. Discussion on the effectiveness
of this completion type over the typically used cased and cemented completions in regards to breakdown
pressure and overall well efficiency is provided. Some practical applications of the study include input for
the decision on the completion type in vertical and horizontal wells.

Introduction
Within last 5 years, several structures in the Fahud salt basin have been evaluated as containing a
significant amount of gas locked in tight reservoirs. Experience proved that almost always a hydraulic
fracturing stimulation is required to achieve commercial rates. The main challenge during the fracturing
job was difficulty in breaking down the formation. Several approaches have been tried to address this:
● stronger completions
● revised (reduced) safety margins for the maximum allowable pressure during stimulation
2 IPTC-18261-MS

● use of heavy brines for formation breakdown

● different (so-called hybrid) fracturing schedules
Along these lines, several theoretical investigations were carried out. They included two geomechanics
projects: one based on a model fully coupled with the fluid flow, described by Briner et al. (2015c), and
the other one utilizing a maximum tensile stress (MTS) criterion model as highlighted by Briner et al.
(2015a, 2015b). The current work was performed using the latter model. It focused on the completion type
and possible related issues.

Current Model
Two groups of geomechanical models capable for fracturing initiation pressure (FIP) computation
currently exist: coupled with the fluid flow inside the fracture and not coupled. Details of the models from
the former group are provided by Garagash and Detournay (1997), Detournay and Carbonell (1997),
Bunger et al. (2010), Lecampion (2012), Lhomme (2005), Lhomme et al. (2005), and Abbas and
Lecampion (2013). An overview of the latter group provided by Alekseenko et al. (2012a). The present
model is from the group of models not coupled wFith the fluid flow. It uses a boundary element method
(BEM) and employs a geometrical description of the wellbore and single perforation in arbitrary
orientation in 3D space.
Terms and Definitions. FIP is defined as the minimum pressure inside the wellbore that causes rock
failure at some points of the wellbore or perforation surfaces followed by the initiation of a fracture. It is
assumed that the initial fracture is closed at the first moment. Generally speaking, an additional pressure
is necessary to open the fracture wide enough and to push the viscous fluid inside. A fracture breakdown
pressure can be defined as the maximum pressure recorded during hydraulic fracturing treatment. This
pressure corresponds to the moment when the fluid starts penetrating into the newly created dry incipient
fracture, forcing it to propagate further. The difference between the FIP and the fracture breakdown
pressure is impacted by fluid viscosity, injection rate, system compressibility, hoop stresses near the
wellbore, fracture tortuosity, etc.
Wellbore orientation and far-field stress directions are usually defined with respect to the global
coordinate system of the Earth. Because gravity is not taken into account in this work, only relative
orientation of the wellbore and the perforation with respect to the far-field stress directions affects the rock
stress state. A coordinate system xyz is introduced so that the x axis coincides with the direction of the
maximum horizontal stress, the y axis coincides with the direction of the minimum horizontal stress, and
the z axis is vertical. The wellbore and perforation orientations are defined relative to this coordinate
system. The wellbore orientation is determined by polar angle ␪ measured from the vertical direction and
by azimuthal angle ␸ measured from the direction of the minimum horizontal stress, as shown in Fig. 1.
In the present work, perforation orientation is fixed in the plane orthogonal to the wellbore axis and
defined by the angle ␤ measured from the direction of the vertical stress. In a more general case, the
perforation orientation can be arbitrary, and then the definition of angle ␤ is different. Detailed description
of perforation-related modeling and respective definitions is provided by Briner et al. (2015a).
IPTC-18261-MS 3

Figure 1—Orientation of wellbore relative to in-situ stresses

Input. Four field blocks and three formation layers in each block have been evaluated. A catalog of
parameters has been derived from the existing mechanical earth model and used as an input data set in the
model (Briner et al. 2015b). Wellbore and perforation tunnel dimensions were fixed into a single set of
parameters. They matched the most typical values for the field.
Accuracy. The mesh of the 2520 elements was chosen for all computations. Justification for this
approach is in Briner et al. (2015a).
Model Theory. The influence of wellbore and perforation orientation on FIP is investigated numer-
ically. The FIP should be calculated for each orientation (angles ␪, ␸, ␤) and given rock properties. To
find FIP pinit, wellbore pressure pw is increased until the criterion of fracture initiation is satisfied at least
at one point of the wellbore or perforation. The rock is assumed to be an isotropic, linear elastic,
homogeneous medium. The calculated stress state is analyzed by the fracture initiation criterion where it
is assumed that rock is a brittle material. It should be noted that the proposed approach can be applied also
for a porous (linear elastic but nonhomogeneous) solid in the following cases:
● There is no saturation fluid.
● The saturating fluid is at constant pore pressure in whole region; in this case, the model can be
applied with the drained rock moduli.
● The saturating fluid is unable to move between pores during the timescale of fracturing; in this
case, the model can be applied with the undrained rock moduli.
Rock stress state equations, along with BEM, FIP, and fracture initiation criteria theoretical background
are defined in greater depth by Alekseenko et al. (2012a) and Briner et al. (2015b).

Model of a Cased Wellbore

To calculate stress state around a cased wellbore, the deformations of casing, cement, and rock should be
taken into account. This can be done using the multizone boundary element method (BEM) developed by
Alekseenko et al. (2012b). Constructing the numerical algorithm is more complicated with the multizone
BEM; computations with this method are also too slow for the required volume of stress state calculations.
The simplified approach described and verified by Alekseenko et al. (2012a) has been used in the current
work to calculate the stress state around a cased wellbore using the modified openhole model. The brief
description of the required model modification is provided below and illustrated in Fig. 2.
4 IPTC-18261-MS

Figure 2—Scheme of real cased wellbore (left) and model (right)

It is assumed that cement sheath and surrounding rock have the same mechanical properties. Although
the deformation of casing is not considered directly, it is taken into account that the presence of casing
weakens the pressure exerted on the cement sheath by the wellbore fluid. To simulate this effect, the
boundary conditions of the openhole model were modified. While the surface of the perforation is loaded
by the wellbore pressure Pw, the surface of the wellbore is subjected to a reduced pressure Pc:
(1)

where P0 is the pressure formed in the cement sheath by the end of cement setting, and k is the
relaxation coefficient of the casing. The cement setting pressure can be estimated as the hydrostatic
pressure of the slurry column. For cement slurry density ␳⬇1800 kg/m3, acceleration of gravity g⬇10
m/s2, and wellbore vertical depth h⬇5000 m. Po is equal to 90 MPa. The relaxation coefficient k is
calculated analytically from the solution of the problem of a cased unperforated wellbore loaded by
pressure and is equal to 0.45. There was no comparison performed with the more accurate direct approach
that considers the stresses and deformations of all three media (steel casing, cement sheath and rock), but
this may be a subject for further investigation.
Pressure Relaxation by Casing. A casing of inner radius rin and outer radius rout is placed into a hole
in an infinite rock massif (Fig. 3). It is loaded by wellbore pressure Pw from inside. There is no load at
infinity (␴⬁⫽0). The goal is then to find the coefficient of pressure relaxation by casing k⫽Pc/Pw. The
solution for k is a solution for the classical problem for a compound cylinder (Bansal 2010):
(2)

where
IPTC-18261-MS 5

Figure 3—Scheme of the pressure relaxation problem

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

For the given input parameters, the relaxation coefficient k is 0.45.

Simulation Results
Simulations demonstrate that the presence of casing may affect the initial fracture orientation. The
distribution of maximal eigenvalue of stress tensor for cased wellbore and open hole is shown on Fig. 4
for the special case of a horizontal wellbore aligned with the minimum horizontal stress and vertical
perforation tunnel. Zones of fracture initiation are indicated in red. In a cased wellbore (Fig. 4, left),
transversal fracture initiates whereas in open hole (Fig. 4, right), the initial fracture is longitudinal. Taking
the presence of casing into account allows predicting both transversal and longitudinal fracture initiation
depending on the wellbore and perforation orientation. The dependence of fracture initiation pressure
(FIP) on wellbore orientation for the same horizontal wells of North block Upper Amin formation are
shown in Fig. 5. Blue shaded zones correspond to orthogonal transverse fracture; red zones correspond to
longitudinal fracture. Several observations can be made:
● Changing wellbore orientation from vertical to horizontal increases FIP in both cased and openhole
cases (Fig. 5a). The rate on FIP increase is about 30% higher for the cased wellbore than for the
open hole. Initial hydraulic fracture direction changes from transverse to longitudinal for cased
hole but stays longitudinal for openhole.
6 IPTC-18261-MS

Figure 4 —Distribution of maximum eigenvalue of the stress tensor for a horizontal wellbore for the case of the North block Upper Amin

Figure 5—Influence of wellbore and fracture orientation on FIP for cased wellbore and openhole for the North block Upper Amin
IPTC-18261-MS 7

● Changing perforation orientation in horizontal wellbore from vertical to horizontal drastically

increases FIP by 45% in cased wellbore and by 27% in open hole (Fig. 5b). Again, cased
completion is more prone to FIP rate change than open hole.
● Almost no change in FIP is observed in case of wellbore in vertical plane aligned with the
minimum horizontal stress and perforation direction changes (Fig. 5c). Initial hydraulic fracture is
transverse for cased wellbore, and longitudinal for open hole. It does not depend on perforation
orientation.
● If the perforation orientation is fixed, and the wellbore ⬙rotates⬙ in the horizontal plane between
principal horizontal stresses (Fig. 5d), the FIP is highest for both, cased and openhole cases, when
the well is in the minimum horizontal stress plane. Initial hydraulic fracture direction changes from
transverse to longitudinal for cased hole but stays longitudinal for open hole.

Influence of Horizontal Stress Variation

Usually, minimum horizontal stress is measured with some uncertainty. Maximum horizontal stress
cannot be measured, but is calculated from the mechanical earth model with uncertainty, too. To examine
the effect of error in the stress determinations, the principal horizontal stresses were varied by ⫾10% (Fig.
7). The conclusion was that the error in determination of horizontal stress has considerable influence on
fracture initiation pressure (FIP); 10% of stress variation may produce 20% of FIP variation.

Figure 6 —Principal horizontal stresses variation effect for horizontal cased and cemented wellbore aligned with minimum horizontal
stress, for the North block Upper Amin
8 IPTC-18261-MS

Figure 7—Actual cased and cemented and openhole wells used for breakdown pressure comparisons. Green areas indicate fracture
stages

Actual Breakdown Pressures in Horizontal Wellbores

Two horizontal wells in the vicinity have been treated with hydraulic fracturing. The wells are very
comparable: both were drilled almost horizontally in the top part of the Upper Amin unit parallel to each
other (Fig. 7). The distance between the wellbores is approximately 400 m. Hole size is 5 7/8-in. One well
is completed with seven fracturing stages in cased and cemented hole; the other is completed with eight
fracture stages separated by swell packers in open hole. The time between fracturing stimulations of the
two wells is about 2 years. The cased hole was stimulated first, although the depletion from the first
treatment is not a concern as the well was not produced. The only production happened during flowback
after every fracturing stage executed each time for 48 hours. As shown in Table 1, the actual breakdown
pressures in the openhole completion are predictably lower than in the cased hole. The average difference
between actual breakdown pressures in cased and openhole completions is 11%, whereas the difference
between modeled (expected) values in these two completions is 17%.

Table 1—Actual well breakdown pressures

Expected
Cased and Cemented Completion Openhole Completion Actual (modeled)
difference difference
Bottomhole Breakdown Bottomhole Breakdown in in
Top breakdown pressure Top breakdown pressure breakdown breakdown
Perfs pressure, gradient, Perfs pressure, gradient, pressure, pressure,
Stage Subunit TVD, m kPa kPa/m Subunit TVD, m kPa kPa/m % %

Stage 1 U30 4830 123,948 25.7 U30 4905 112,595 23.0 8 17

Stage 2 U30 4830 121,713 25.2 U30-U40 4834 91,180 19.0 25
Stage 3 U40 4830 115,025 23.8 U30-U40 4816 106,611 22.1 7
Stage 4 U40 4824 119,769 24.8 U40 4823 114,348 23.7 5
Stage 5 U40 4811 118,672 24.7 U40 4824 not clearly identified –
Stage 6 U40 4796 119,217 24.9 U40 4797 not clearly identified –
Stage 7 U30 4725 118,079 25.0 U40 4806 not clearly identified –
Average: 11

Absolute values of actual breakdown pressures and predicted fracture initiation pressures are different,
with fracture initiation pressures (FIP) greater than the observed pressures. This discrepancy may be a
IPTC-18261-MS 9

result of neglected time-dependent poroelastic effects, possible rock heterogeneity (fractures, damage,
etc.), or other factors.

Vertical Openhole Wellbore

Only one vertical well has been completed with an openhole bottom section (so-called barefoot comple-
tion) for lowering the formation breakdown pressure. The fracturing stimulation targeted Lower Amin
interval. This formation (and also the Middle Amin) is known for abnormally high fracturing gradients,
in some cases above overburden (Fig. 8). The breakdown pressure was predictably high with the fracturing
gradient of 25.6 kPa/m, which is in line with other treatments performed for the Lower Amin. No
noticeable change from cased hole completions in the Lower Amin has been seen (Fig. 9). Evaluation of
the response of radioactive tracers revealed that the hydraulic fracture propagated above the casing shoe,
likely through a poor cement shield. Despite this lack of fracture containment, the openhole completion
option in vertical wells has not been not discarded. One well trial is not statistically representative for an
engineered decision. Openhole completions are still applicable in some cases where the cement bond
quality is verified and difficulties with formation breakdown are expected. It is believed that the exposure
to the large formation interval can help with lowering the breakdown pressure as the weaker zones are,
by default, exposed to the applied fracturing pressure.

Figure 8 —Well in Main block completed in Lower Amin with openhole

10 IPTC-18261-MS

Figure 9 —Breakdown pressure in cased and openhole in vertical wells completed in Lower/Middle Amin formations

Conclusions and Discussion

Fracture initiation pressure (FIP) in this study describes one piece of the bigger puzzle of the breakdown
pressure phenomenon. FIP is not the same as the breakdown pressure, but understanding it better could
lead to more accurate prediction of breakdown pressure. This study addressed the hydraulic fracture
initiation process based on static loading and tensile stress criteria with several assumptions. As a
preliminary milestone, it does not allow us to be conclusive on the hydraulic fracturing process at this
stage. The following modeled FIP behavior with respect to changes in wellbore completion type has been
observed in 3D simulation for a given set of the stress conditions:
● The presence of casing increases the FIP. It may also impact the initial hydraulic fracture
orientation.
● Changing wellbore orientation from vertical to horizontal increases FIP in both cased and openhole
cases. The rate of FIP increase is approximately 30% higher for the cased wellbore than for the
openhole. Initial hydraulic fracture direction changes from transverse to longitudinal for cased hole
but stays longitudinal for openhole.
● Changing perforation orientation in horizontal wellbore from vertical to horizontal drastically
increases FIP by 45% in cased wellbore and by 27% in openhole. Cased completion is more prone
to FIP rate change than openhole.
● Almost no change in FIP is observed in case of wellbore is in vertical plane aligned with the
minimum horizontal stress and perforation direction changes. Initial hydraulic fracture is trans-
verse for cased wellbore and longitudinal for openhole. It does not depend on perforation
orientation.
● If the perforation orientation is fixed, and the wellbore ⬙rotates⬙ in horizontal plane between
principal horizontal stresses, the FIP is highest, for both cased and openhole cases, when the well
is in minimum horizontal stress plane. Initial hydraulic fracture direction changes from transverse
to longitudinal for cased hole but stays longitudinal for openhole.
The actual breakdown pressures in an openhole completion are predictably lower than in cased hole.
The average difference between actual breakdown pressures in cased and openhole completions is 11%,
whereas difference between modeled (expected) values in these two completions is 17%. Absolute values
IPTC-18261-MS 11

of actual breakdown pressures and predicted FIPs are different with FIP greater than the observed
pressures. This discrepancy may be a result of neglected time-dependent poroelastic effects, possible rock
heterogeneity (fractures, damage, etc.), or other factors.
Openhole completion has been tried on one vertical well. The results of the trial were inconclusive in
the sense of achieving lower breakdown pressure (no noticeable breakdown pressure was observed). The
fracture propagated upwards through the cemented shoe. In spite of this, the openhole completion option
for vertical wells cannot be discarded at this time. It still can be advantageous in some cases where the
cement bond quality is verified and difficulties with formation breakdown are expected.
Some improvements may be introduced to the model to increase its accuracy and applicability:
● The multizonal boundary element method (BEM), which can simulate the stress state of steel
casing, cement sheath, and rock more accurately, could be used.
● The fracture initiation criterion could be improved. The maximum tensile stress (MTS) criterion
is not able to take the size effect into account. This effect may be important as the diameter of
perforation is a few times smaller than the wellbore diameter.
● Rock porosity and pore pressure can be also taken into account in FIP calculation. Two limiting
cases (when pore pressure is constant in the whole domain and when pore fluid is unable to move)
can be considered within the framework of the current model by using drained and undrained
elastic parameters of the material. In the case of variable pore pressure, the BEM cannot be
applied, and the effect of fluid filtration on rock stress should be simulated by the finite element
method, for example. However, the model with the constant pore pressure may be used as an
approximation.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Sultanate of Oman Ministry of Oil and Gas, Petroleum Development
Oman, Schlumberger, and Institute of Computational Technologies (Siberian Branch of Russian Academy
of Science) for permission to publish this paper. Special thanks to Romain Prioul (Schlumberger-Doll
Research) for constructive reviews and valuable recommendations.

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