Can We Evaluate the Effectiveness of Diverting Agent Only by Hydraulic Fracturing Pressure Signals

TongXuan Gu, HanYi Wang, Shuang Zheng

In conventional wisdom, the effectiveness of using diverting agent during hydraulic fracturing can be assessed by monitoring pressure, by assuming that successful plugging perforations of larger hydraulic fractures will lead to a jump in treatment pressure, thus diverting injection fluid to other perforations. This study aims to demystify the concept of evaluating the effectiveness of diverter agents through hydraulic fracturing pressure alone. A fully implicit 3D geomechanical fracture simulator is employed to investigate the relationship between open perforation locations and treatment pressure. Simulation results demonstrate that increase in treatment pressure does not necessary mean that the perforations of one hydraulic fracture is plugged, it can also mean that perforations are plugged at different clusters. Thus, an increase in treatment pressure does not guarantee the diversion of injection fluid.