Jun He

Date of Award

1-1-2015

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Petroleum Engineering

First Advisor

Kegang Ling

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to measure the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of the Bakken Formation in North Dakota Williston Basin in to increase the success rate of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing so as to improve the ultimate recovery of this unconventional crude oil resource from the current 3% to a higher level.

Horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing is a required well completion technique for economic exploitation of crude oil from Bakken Formation in the North Dakota Williston Basin due to its low porosity and low permeability. The success of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing depends on knowing the petrophysical and geomechanical properties of the rocks.

A dataset of geomechanical and petrophyscial properties of the Bakken Formation rocks in the studied areas is generated, after petrophysical properties (including Density, Velocity, Porosity, and Permeability) and geomechanical properties (including uniaxial compressive strength, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, and Biot’s coefficience) were measured. To obtain those parameters, we not only used regular methods but also proposed some new methods for solving special measurement problems which may also be faced by other tight rock researchers.

The results of this research can be used as a guideline and reference to optimize horizontal drilling and fracturing design to increase estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) in unconventional shale oil and gas productions.

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