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Publications on I. Walton

The Role of Natural Fractures in Shale Gas Production
I. Walton ; J. McLennan
Book Title / Journal: Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing - Chpater 16
Year: 2013
Mining ; Other Geotechnical
Keywords: natural fractures ; shale gas production
  • Description
    • In this paper we investigate the role played by natural fractures in the gas production process. By applying a new model of the production process to data from many shale gas wells across a number of shale plays in North America, we can for the first time begin to sort out assertion from inference in the role that these fractures play. Specifically, we are able to estimate the magnitude of the fracture surface through which gas is actually produced. We are able to demonstrate that although it may be commensurate with the expected surface area of open natural fractures for the ultra-low permeability shallow gas shales, it is in fact com‐ mensurate with a very much smaller area for the deeper gas shales such as the Barnett. Furthermore, given a typical value of the matrix permeability, almost all the gas between the fractures would have been produced in an uncharacteristically short period of time unless the producing fractures are 100s of feet apart. The implications of these findings for completion and stimulation strategies will be discussed.
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Do Perforated Completions Have Value for Engineered Geothermal Systems
W. Glauser ; J. McLennan ; I. Walton
Book Title / Journal: Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing - Chapter 17
Year: 2013
Mining ; Other Geotechnical ; Geothermal
Keywords: perforations ; openhole ; multiple fractures
  • Description
    • A comparative and realistic analysis is done to assess the impact of perforation skin, tortuosity associated with shear fractures intersecting the wellbore and relative economics associated with perforating and cementing geothermal wells
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