Recently developed models of the acid fracturing process have shown that the differential etching necessary to create lasting fracture conductivity is caused by the heterogeneous distributions of permeability and mineralogy along the fracture faces. To predict the conductivity that can be created by acid in a particular formation, the models require information about these formation properties. This research aims to quantify correlation lengths using a geostatistical description of small scale heterogeneity to ascertain the distribution of permeability and mineralogy in a carbonate formation. The correlation length parameters are a first step in being able to couple acid transport and rock dissolution models at reservoir scale with a model of fracture conductivity based on channels and roughness features caused by small scale heterogeneity. Geostatistical parameters of small scale heterogeneity affecting wells in the Hugoton Field are developed. Data leading to their derivation are obtained from a combination of well logs and cores. The permeability of slabbed core is measured to yield vertical correlation length. Well logs are used to estimate permeability via an empirical relationship between core plug permeability and well log data for calculation of horizontal correlation length. A fracture simulator computes the acid etched fracture width for known treatment conditions. The resulting geostatistical parameters and acid etched width are used to predict acid fracture performance for a well in the Hugoton Field. Application of new model conductivity correlations results in a unique prediction for the acid fracture case study that differs from the industry standard. Improvements in low cost stimulation treatments such as acid fracturing are the key to revitalizing production in mature carbonate reservoirs like the Hugoton Field. Planning and development of new wells in any carbonate formation necessarily must consider acid fracturing as a production stimulation technique. Reliable models that accurately predict acid fracture conductivity can be used to make an informed investment decision.

Fracture conductivity and the effects of treatment variables can be studied in the laboratory. We conducted experiments based on scaling down the field conditions to laboratory scale by matching Reynold’s and Peclet numbers. Experiments conducted were comprised of three stages: dynamic etching, surface characterization of etched cores, and conductivity measurement. The effect of initial condition of fracture surfaces on the etching pattern and conductivity were investigated in this study. Another area of interest is the variation of conductivity along the fracture due to acid spending. We also investigated the contact time, acid system type, and treatment temperature effects on conductivity using San Andres dolomite cores. The results from these studies showed that rough-surface fractures generate higher conductivity by an order of magnitude compared with a smooth-surface fracture at low-closure stress. Also, conductivity generated on rough-surface fractures by smoothing peaks and deepening valleys which widen the gap between the fracture surfaces after closure and acid creates conductivity on smooth-surface fractures by differential etching that creates asperities. The results suggest that an increase in acid spending does not automatically result in lower conductivity; and etched volume alone is not adequate to predicate the conductivity. Conductivity results from a combination of etching pattern, etched volume, and rock compressive strength after etching. In-situ crosslinked acid was found to be more effective in etching rock and controlling acid leakoff compared with linear-gelled acid. Also, crosslinked acid reduces the number of pits and the pit diameters. Based on conductivity tests, linear-gelled acid is more favorable at higher temperatures while in-situ crosslinked acid showed higher conductivity at lower temperatures. For a rough-surface fracture, shorter contact time created high conductivity compared to longer contact while injecting the same volume of acid, suggesting the existence of an optimum contact time.

Success of acid fracturing depends on uneven etching along the fracture surfaces caused by heterogeneities such as variations in local mineralogy and variations in leakoff behavior. The heterogeneities tend to create channeling characteristics, which provide lasting conductivity after fracture closure, and occur on a scale that is neither used in laboratory measurements of acid fracture conductivity, which use core samples that are too small to observe such a feature, nor in typical acid fracture simulations in which the grid block size is much larger than the scale of local heterogeneities. Acid fracture conductivity depends on fracture surface etching patterns. Existing acid fracture conductivity correlations are for random asperity distributions and do not consider the contribution of channels to the conductivity. An acid fracture conductivity correlation needs the average fracture width at zero closure stress. Existing correlations calculate average fracture width using dissolved rock equivalent width without considering the effect of reservoir characteristics. The purpose of this work is to develop an intermediate-scale acid fracture model with grid size small enough and the whole dimension big enough to capture local and macro heterogeneity effects and channeling characteristics in acid fracturing. The model predicts pressure field, flow field, acid concentration profiles, and fracture surface profiles as a function of acid contact time. By extensive numerical experiments with the model, we develop correlations of fracture conductivity and average fracture width at zero closure stress as a function of statistical parameters of permeability and mineralogy distributions. With the model, we analyzed the relationships among fracture surface etching patterns, conductivities, and the distributions of permeability and mineralogy. From result analysis, we found that a fracture with channels extending from the inlet to the outlet of the fracture has a high conductivity because fluid flow in deep channels needs a very small pressure drop. Such long and highly conductive channels can be created by acids if the formation has heterogeneities in either permeability or mineralogy, or both, with high correlation length in the direction of the fracture, which is the case in laminated formations.