US 11,842,127 B2
Modeling fractured wells
Ghazi Dhafer AlQahtani, Dhahran (SA); Zhen Chen, Dhahran (SA); Abdullah A. Hamidi, Dhahran (SA); and Tareq Shaalan, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Feb. 18, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/179,101.
Prior Publication US 2022/0261513 A1, Aug. 18, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 30/20 (2020.01); E21B 41/00 (2006.01); E21B 43/26 (2006.01); E21B 47/08 (2012.01); G06F 111/10 (2020.01)
CPC G06F 30/20 (2020.01) [E21B 41/0035 (2013.01); E21B 43/26 (2013.01); E21B 47/08 (2013.01); E21B 2200/20 (2020.05); G06F 2111/10 (2020.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for simulating performance of a fractured well, the method comprising:
receiving, by a computing device, parameters of the fractured well, wherein the fractured well comprises a wellbore and one or more hydraulic fractures extending from the wellbore;
generating, by the computing device and based on the parameters of the fractured well, an equivalent complex well that represents the fractured well;
executing, by the computing device and using the equivalent complex well, a simulation that simulates the performance of the fractured well;
determining, based on a simulated performance of the fractured well, a hydraulic fracture design of a well to be drilled, wherein the hydraulic fracture design specifies a hydraulic fracture spacing intensity; and
controlling, by the computing device and based on the hydraulic fracture design, at least one drilling device to drill the well according to the hydraulic fracture design such that adjacent fractures in the drilled well maintain a distance that is no less than the hydraulic fracture spacing intensity,
wherein generating, by the computing device and based on the parameters of the fractured well, the equivalent complex well comprises: modeling each hydraulic fracture by a respective rectangular tube, wherein dimensions of the respective rectangular tube is based on dimensions of the hydraulic fracture.