Abstract
Hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling has been the technology that makes it possible to economically produce natural gas from unconventional shale gas or tight gas reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing operations, in particular, multistage fracturing treatments along with horizontal wells in unconventional formations create complex fracture geometries or networks, which are difficult to characterize. The traditional analysis using a single vertical or horizontal fracture concept may be no longer applicable. Knowledge of these created fracture properties, such as their spatial distribution, extension and fracture areas, is essential information to evaluate stimulation results. However, there are currently few effective approaches available for quantifying hydraulic fractures in unconventional reservoirs.
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