The Industry Technology Facilitator (ITF), working with Marathon Oil, Nexen and Repsol, has launched a joint industry project (JIP) to improve the planning, design and implementation of hydraulic fracturing to maximize the efficiency and profitability of unconventional resources globally, according to a news release.

The FRACGAS II JIP continues the development of the Elfen tight gas reservoirs (tgs) software suite pioneered by Rockfield, a geomechanics software solutions developer. The research aims to enhance finite element (FE) based modeling technology and microseismic methodology, the release said.

FRACGAS I developed the Elfen tgs software that allows the simulation of:

  • 3D hydraulic fracture propagation with curved paths;
  • Multi-stage and multi-well fracture interference with proppant transport, stress shadows, flow back, fracture closure/embedment and production;
  • Discrete fracture network stimulation with synthetic microseismicity and hydraulic fracture interactions;
  • Mixed mode discrete tensile and continuum shear formation damage; and
  • Hydraulic fracture propagation under the influence of near wellbore stress field, according to the release.

The FRACGAS II project aims to incorporate mixed mode fracturing; multiphase flow; hydraulic fracturing for oil reservoirs, and linking computational technology for assessment of current days stress, forward modelling, and hydro-fracture modelling into the Elfen tgr software.

The software will be verified against experimental and operator supplied data. The modeling technology may then be used to enhance knowledge across a number of areas, the release said.

“Hydraulic fracturing presents a range of technical challenges but the application of finite element and discrete element technology will ultimately improve stimulation designs and allow for better prediction of the hydraulic fracturing process,” ITF CEO Patrick O’Brien said in the release. “This phase also sees the expansion into tight oil shales which are of key interest to ITF members globally.”