The Effect of Fracture-Face Matrix
Damage on Productivity of Fractures
With Infinite and Finite Conductivities in
Shale-Gas Reservoirs
J. Li, China University of Petroleum (Beijing); B. Guo, SPE, University of Louisiana at Lafayette;
D. Gao, SPE, China University of Petroleum (Beijing); and C. Ai, SPE, Northeast Petroleum University
Summary
Producing natural gas from shale-gas reservoirs presents a great
challenge to petroleum engineers owing to the low-permeability
nature of this type of gas reservoir. Large-scale and expensive hy-
draulic-fracturing operations are often required for enhancing gas
well productivity. Because of the shaly characteristics of the res-
ervoir rock, the hydraulically fractured gas wells are vulnerable to
damage by fracturing fluids. However, the true significance of the
formation damage in shale-gas reservoirs is still not clear. It is
highly desirable to have a simple method for predicting the degree
of fracture-face matrix damage and for optimizing fracturing
treatments. This paper is meant to fill this gap.
A new mathematical model was developed in this study to pre-
dict the effect of fracture-face matrix damage on the productivity
of fractured gas wells in shale-gas reservoirs. A unique feature of
the new model is that it considers reservoir/fracture crossflow in
finite-conductivity fractures. Results of the model analyses were
sensitized to reservoir properties and facture-face matrix-skin
properties determined by the fracturing-fluid properties and treat-
ment conditions. Large ranges of possible leakoff and spurt-loss
coefficients were investigated. We concluded that, in the ranges
of reservoir and fluid properties used in this study, well productiv-
ity should drop by less than 15% even if the residual matrix
permeability is reduced to only 5% of the virgin reservoir perme-
ability in the damage zone. Neglecting the resistance to flow in
the fracture will overestimate the effect of matrix damage on
well productivity. The well-productivity drop caused by matrix
damage is most sensitive to the invasion depth and damaged
permeability.
Introduction
Shale gas has become an increasingly important source of natural
gas in several regions of the world over the past decade. One ana-
lyst expects shale gas to supply as much as half the natural-gas
production in North America by 2020 (Polczer 2009). Because
shales ordinarily have insufficient permeability to allow significant
fluid flow to a wellbore, most shales are not commercial sources of
natural gas. Shale gas is one of a number of “unconventional” gas
sources including coalbed methane, tight sandstones, and methane
hydrates. Owing to the nature of low matrix permeability of a
shale-gas reservoir, gas production in commercial quantities
requires hydraulic fractures to provide artificial permeability if
natural fractures do not exist.
Although shale gas has been produced for more than 100 years
in the United States, the wells were often marginally economical.
Higher natural-gas prices in recent years and advances in hydraulic
fracturing and horizontal completions have made shale-gas wells
more profitable. Shale gas tends to cost more to produce than gas
Copyright V
C 2012 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 143304) was accepted for presentation at the SPE European Formation
Damage Conference, Noordwijk, the Netherlands, 7–10 June 2011, and revised for
publication. Original manuscript received for review 6 September 2011. Revised manuscript
received for review 3 February 2012. Paper peer approved 27 March 2012.
September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion
from conventional wells because of the expense of massive
hydraulic-fracturing treatments required to produce shale gas and
the expense of horizontal drilling. This is often offset, however, by
the low risk of shale-gas wells targeting Paleozoic and Mesozoic
rocks. North America has been the leader in developing and pro-
ducing shale gas (US EIA 2011). In particular, the great economic
success of the Barnett shale in Texas has spurred the search for
other sources of shale gas across the United States and Canada.
The production of hydraulically fractured shale-gas wells is
believed always to be affected by formation damage. Four damag-
ing mechanisms have been identified. They are permeability dam-
age in the fracture-face matrix because of fracturing-fluid invasion,
residual filter cake at the fracture face, damage to the propped-
fracture permeability because of residual fracturing fluid in the
fracture, and choking effects in the fracture near the wellbore.
Some low-damaging fluids have been used in the industry, includ-
ing KCl solutions and fluids with leak-off-control polymers. Use of
these fracturing fluids increases the cost of the fracturing treatment,
while the true significance of formation damage, especially frac-
ture-face matrix damage, is still not clear. It is important to know
how much the fracture-face damage affects well productivity
because this issue directly relates to the selection of fluids for frac-
turing operations.
Whether fracturing fluids damage the productivity of fractured
wells has been an issue for more than 50 years (van Poolen 1957).
Holditch (1979) performed extensive studies of formation-damage
mechanisms in fractured gas wells on the basis of numerical simu-
lations of multiphase flow in gas reservoirs. He pointed out that
capillary pressure and relative permeability are extremely impor-
tant factors controlling the behavior of well cleanup. He con-
cluded that no serious water blockage to gas flow could occur
when the pressure drawdown is much greater than the capillary
pressure in the formation. Volk et al. (1983) developed an experi-
mental method to evaluate fracture-face matrix damage. They
found that the depth of fracturing-fluid invasion is very small,
most likely less than 0.02 cm into rock with gas permeabilities
less than 0.12 md at a pressure gradient of 600 psi/cm across the
core in 40 minutes of invasion. On the basis of studies with an an-
alytical model for well productivity, Romero et al. (2003) con-
cluded that nonuniform fracture-face skin significantly decreases
the productivity of fractured wells. Gdanski et al. (2005) con-
firmed the results presented by Holditch (1979) with numerical
simulation. Their studies confirmed that fracture-face matrix dam-
age that results in a loss of 90% of the original permeability may
not affect gas production in a way that would be noticed. Frac-
ture-face damage that results in a loss of 99% of the original per-
meability may have a significant impact on gas-production rate,
particularly if the capillary pressure is high, such as in low-perme-
ability gas reservoirs. However, there should be very few proc-
esses that can cause a loss of 90 to 99% of the original
permeability during fracturing-fluid invasion into the fracture-
face matrix. Clay swelling is a process that can cause more than
90% permeability loss. Fortunately, the damage caused by clay
swelling can often be avoided by the proper choice of base fluid
for a fracturing treatment. Therefore, while the fracture-face
347
 pffiffiffi
damage definitely can impair gas-well production, it may also be 4:475  10 4 hð1 e cs xf Þðp2e p2wf Þ
fairly easy to avoid (Gdanski et al. 2005). Holditch and Tschirhart qg ¼   ; . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ
pffiffiffiffi ðy y s Þ ys
(2005) suggested puting large volumes of proppant into the frac- lg zT cs e þ
ture at high concentrations to avoid damaging the fracture or kH ks
severely damaging the fracture face in tight gas sands. Xiong and
where
Holditch (1995) developed an expert system for hydraulic-fractur-
ing-fluid selection. Xiong et al. (1996) presented a fuzzy system 24
for hydraulic-fracturing-fluid and additive selection. Wang et al. cs ¼   ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
ðye ys Þ y s
(2008) recommended the design and use of fracture fluids, that kf w þ
can degrade effectively after the treatment of tight gas reservoirs. kH ks
Wang et al. (2010) showed the important effect of fracture-fluid where all the notations are explained in the nomenclature section.
cleanup on well productivity in tight gas reservoirs. Osholake For fractures with infinitive conductivity (kf ! 1), Eq. 1
et al. (2011) investigated factors affecting hydraulically fractured degenerates to
well performances in the Marcellus shale gas reservoirs. They
concluded that no formation damage could occur to the fracture 4:475  10 4 hxf ðp2e p2wf Þ
face in reservoir conditions that promote good fracturing-fluid re- qg ¼   : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð3Þ
ðy ys Þ y s
covery. Relative permeability hysteresis can reduce significantly lg zT e þ
the relative permeability to gas in the invaded zone and, subse- kH ks
quently, reduce the well productivity.
For a short fracture, the two ends/tips of the fracture are
The preceding studies are conflicting in conclusions regarding
the significance of fracture-face damage. This issue was addressed expected to make larger contributions to the total flow because
further in our study, with a mathematical model. they are accessing much larger flanks of the reservoir, compared
with the center part of the fracture (at wellbore) that drains a more
Raghavan and Joshi (1993) presented a mathematical model
for predicting productivities of horizontal wells with multiple limited reservoir volume per unit fracture length. This should cre-
ate a U-shaped fluid influx to the fracture. A reservoir pseudo-
transverse fractures. The model uses the effective wellbore radius
(in radial flow) to simulate the fluid flow toward the fractured radial flow may be assumed in the matrix. It is difficult to derive
well. Fluid flow within the fracture was not considered. Wan and an analytical expression for well productivity with a finite-con-
ductivity fracture. For shale-gas reservoirs where the reservoir
Aziz (2002) presented a semianalytical well model for horizontal
wells with multiple hydraulic-fractures. More-practical models permeability is much lower than the fracture permeability, the
fracture may be considered to be infinitively conductive. On the
were presented by Li et al. (1996) and Wei and Economides
(2005) that link the reservoir linear flow, fracture linear flow, and basis of the results of the investigation in Papatzacos (1987), we
fracture radial flow. Guo and Schechter (1997) presented the first developed the following function for the specific productivity
index of a fractured well:
mathematical model that couples reservoir linear flow and fracture
linear flow for oil wells. None of these models considers fracture- 2  3
x
face damage. Therefore, a new mathematical model is required to 6:212
m6
Jsp ðxÞ ¼ Jsp 41 þ 0:0078e x 5 x  xf ; . . . . . . . ð4Þ
f 7
evaluate the impact of fracture-face matrix damage on the productiv-
ity of shale-gas wells.

where the productivity index at the midpoint of the fracture (well-

New Mathematical Model bore) can be estimated using Eq. 3 as
Model Formulation. Productivity of a fractured well depends on
two processes in series: (1) collecting fluids from the reservoir m qg 2:2375  10 4 h
matrix at the fracture faces and (2) transporting the received fluids Jsp ¼ ¼  : . . . . . . . . ð5Þ
p2wf Þ

2xf ðp2e ðy ys Þ y s
to the wellbore. Usually one of the two processes is a limiting lg zT e þ
kH ks
step that controls well-production rate. The efficiency of the first
process depends on fracture dimension (length and height), and An analytical expression of well-production rate can be derived
the efficiency of the second depends on fracture permeability and by integrating Eq. 4 over the fracture length as
width. The relative importance of each process can be analyzed  3
by use of the concept of fracture conductivity. In situations where x
2
xðf
6:212
the fracture half-length (xf) is much smaller than the effective 2 2 m6 x f 7
qg ¼ 2 ðpe pwf ÞJsp 41 þ 0:0078e 5 dx . . . . . ð6Þ
drainage radius (re) of the well, the productivity of a fractured
well traditionally has been estimated assuming pseudoradial flow 0
in the reservoir. A fracture with xf < 0.8 re is classified as a short
fracture in this paper. Short and wide fractures are those created or
in high-permeability reservoirs to increase fluid transmissibisibil- m
ity of fractures. In situations where a fracture half-length is much qg ¼ 3:25Jsp xf ðp2e p2wf Þ: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð7Þ
larger than the effective drainage radius of the well, the productiv-
ity cannot be estimated assuming pseudoradial flow in the reser- The effect of facture-face skin of thickness ys and permeability ks
voir (Guo and Schechter 1997). A fracture with xf > 0.8 re is on the productivity of fractured gas wells can be analyzed using a
classified as a long fracture in this paper. Long and narrow frac- productivity-index ratio (PIR) defined as
tures are those created in low-permeability reservoirs to increase Js
fracture area for collecting more fluids from the reservoir matrix. PIR ¼ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð8Þ
J
The efficiency of the first process is affected by the facture-
face matrix damage caused by the invasion of fracturing fluid. where Js is the productivity index of a well with fracture-face ma-
The efficiency of the second process is influenced by the possible trix skin and J is the productivity index of a well without skin. On
residual filter cake of cross-linked water-based fluid at the fracture the basis of Eq. 1, for a gas well with a long fracture, Js and J are
face and damage to the propped-fracture permeability by residual defined as
fracturing fluid in the fracture.
pffiffiffi
For long fractures, we modified the oilwell model of Guo and qg 4:475  10 4 hð1 e cs xf Þ
Schechter (1997) by including the invasion depth (thickness of Js ¼ ¼  . . . . . . . . ð9Þ
p2wf Þ

ðp2e pffiffiffiffi ðy ys Þ y s
facture-face skin) (ys) and the permeability in the invasion zone lg zT cs e þ
(ks). For gas wells, the modified model takes the following form: kH ks

348 September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion

 was made regarding fluid-viscosity limit. Therefore, the model is
TABLE 1—RESERVOIR AND FRACTURE PROPERTIES valid for any type of Newtonian fluid. The apparent viscosity
FOR A FRACTURED GAS WELL should be used in the model for non-Newtonian fluids.
Eqs. 14 and 15 indicate that the PIR is independent of reser-
Pay-zone thickness 100 ft voir-fluid properties. This means that the model should be valid
Rock porosity 7.5–15% for both gas reservoirs and oil reservoirs. This suggests a potential
Horizontal permeability 0.001 md application of the model to shale-oil-reservoir development, which
Young’s modulus of rock 3,000,000 psi has gained a strong momentum in the past year.
Fracture-face matrix permeability 0.00001–0.0001 md
Well drainage area 320–640 acres Model Limitations. The first assumption of the proposed mathe-
Reservoir pressure 5,000 psia matical model is Darcy flow in both reservoir and fracture. The
Reservoir temperature 150 F model should be used with caution for highly productive wells
Gas specific gravity 0.7 air ¼ 1 where non-Darcy effect is very significant. This model should be
Gas viscosity 0.02 cp more valid for oil reservoirs where the non-Darcy flow is mini-
mal. The second assumption is longitudinal fracture along the ver-
Gas compressibility factor 0.95
tical or horizontal wellbore. When applied to transverse fractures,
Fracture permeability 100,000 md
the model should be modified to consider the choking effect in the
Fracture length 4,000 ft fracture near the wellbore. This can be achieved using the mathe-
matical model presented by Guo et al. (2008). The third assump-
and tion is no gas flow from the matrix directly to the wellbore. This
pffiffi assumption is not valid for hydraulically fractured wells in con-
qg 4:475  10 4 kH hð1 e cxf
Þ ventional gas reservoirs.
J¼ ¼ pffiffiffi . . . . . . ð10Þ
ðp2e p2wf Þ lg zTye c
Model Advantages. The advantage of the new model over the
where linked-flow models of Li et al. (1996) and Wei and Economides
(2005) is that the new model rigorously couples the reservoir lin-
24kH ear flow and fracture linear flow. The linked-flow models do not
c¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð11Þ
kf wye consider the distributed gas influx to the fractures. This resulted in
well-productivity models with all gas entering the fracture from
On the basis of Eqs. 5 and 7, for a gas well with a short fracture, the fracture tip. The crossflow model considers the nonuniformly
Js and J are defined as distributed gas influx to the fracture, which is more realistic and is
qg 7:2715  10 4 hxf thus expected to be more accurate than the linked-flow models.
Js ¼ ¼  . . . . . . . . . . . ð12Þ The linked-flow models should overestimate the pressure drop
p2wf Þ

ðp2e ðy ys Þ ys along the fracture and, therefore, underestimate well productivity.
lg zT e þ
kH ks
and Sensitivity Analysis
Eqs. 14 and 15 were for two types of fractures: long (finite-con-
qg 7:2715  10 4 kH hxf ductivity) fractures and short (infinite-conductivity) fractures. The
J¼ ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . ð13Þ models do not further differentiate the effects of degree of fracture
ðp2e p2wf Þ lg zTye
penetration into the drainage area on PIR. For all fractures with
Dividing Eq. 9 by Eq. 10 and rearranging the result gives the PIR degrees of penetration of greater than or equal to 85%, or
for a gas well with a long fracture as xf  0.8re, Eq. 14 should be used and the result will be the same
pffiffiffi 
regardless of the degree of penetration. For all fractures with
1 e cs xf degrees of penetration of less than 0.85, or xf < 0.8re, Eq. 15

1
PIR ¼ sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
  1 e pffifficxf : . . . . . . . . . ð14Þ
ffi should be used, and the result will be the same regardless of the
y s kH degree of penetration. Therefore, only a long fracture with 100%
1þ 1
y e ks penetration (xf ¼ 0.95 re) and a short fracture with 50% penetra-
tion (xf ¼ 0.67 re) were investigated in this study.
Dividing Eq. 12 by Eq. 13 and rearranging the result yields the In Eqs. 14 and 15, the depth of fracturing-fluid invasion (ys)
PIR for gas a well with a short fracture as and damaged permeability (ks) are dependent on fracturing condi-
tions (fluid properties, pressure, and time). This section presents a
1
PIR ¼   : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð15Þ sensitivity analysis to identify key factors affecting well-produc-
ys k H tivity reduction caused by fracture-face matrix damage.
1þ 1
ye ks Presented in Table 1 are the properties of a generic gas reser-
voir and a fractured well under consideration. The matrix perme-
Eqs. 14 and 15 are useful for quantitative analysis only if the val- abilities (horizontal permeabilities) of shale-gas reservoirs are
ues of all the parameters in the equations are known. The drainage typically on the order of nanodarcies with 0.001 md as an upper
distance ye, can be estimated on the basis of the well drainage bound. For example, data from a well in the Fayetteville shale
area and fracture placement in the area. The horizontal permeabil- indicate a matrix permeability of 0.00022 md (Song and Ehlig-
ity kH may be determined from pressure-transient-test data analy- Economides 2011). A matrix permeability of 0.001 md is used in
sis. The invasion depth ys can be estimated on the basis of total this study to cover the condition with the most severe formation
leakoff volume, fracture length and height, reservoir porosity, and damage by fluid invasion. However, Eqs. 14 and 15 show that the
initial water saturation. The value of damage-skin permeability ks PIR is a function of permeability ratio, not reservoir permeability
is difficult to estimate. The fracture permeability can be estimated itself. This means that these two equations are valid at any levels
from the proppant pack under the effective stress. The fracture of reservoir permeability.
width can be calculated on the basis of a fracture model. It is de- Because of the limited space allowed, this paper uses only a
sirable to conduct laboratory tests to determine the value of this Newtonian fluid as an example. It is understood that for a given
parameter for a given shale-gas reservoir. fluid-invasion condition described by the invasion depth and dam-
aged permeability, the impact of invasion on well productivity
Model Capacity. The PIR model itself does not differentiate should be essentially the same regardless of fluid type. The New-
between low- and high-viscosity fluids because no assumption tonian viscosity of hydraulic-fracturing fluid is assumed to be in

September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion 349

 ing that a fixed-height vertical fracture is propagated in a well-
TABLE 2—FRACTURING CONDITIONS FOR A GENERIC confined pay zone. Geertsma and de Klerk (1969) gave a much
GAS RESERVOIR simpler solution to the same problem. The model assumes that the
width of the crack at any distance from the well was independent
Fluid viscosity (l) 1–4 cp of vertical position. They assumed that the flow rate in the frac-
Leakoff coefficient (CL) 0.002–0.01 ft/min0.5 ture was constant and that the pressure in the fracture could be
Spurt-loss coefficient (CS) 0.1–1 gal/100 ft2 approximated by a constant pressure in the majority of the frac-
Fracture height (hf) 100 ft ture body, except for a small region near the tip with no fluid pen-
Proppant density (qp) 165 lb/ft3 etration and, hence, no fluid pressure. This model is suitable for
Proppant pack porosity (fp) 0.4 describing hydraulic fractures in thick pay zones that exist in
Fracture half length (xf) 2,000 ft shale gas reservoirs.
Injection rate (qi) 30 bpm
The fluid-leakoff volumes were calculated on the basis of ma-
terial balance with fracturing condition data shown in Table 2.
Final proppant concentration (cf) 10 ppg
Fluid-invasion depths were calculated on the basis of volume bal-
ance using the fluid-leakoff volumes and reservoir-porosity data.
the range of 1 to 4 cp. This assumption is made for fracturing Table 3 summarizes the calculated fluid-invasion-depth values.
shale-gas formations where basically water with very low concen-
trations of polymers is used. However, the model is also valid for Long-Fracture Case. A 4,000-ft-long fracture is considered to
high-viscosity fracturing fluids. be a long fracture in a 320-acre drainage area because xf/re ¼
The leakoff coefficient depends on several factors. It normally 0.95 > 0.8. The drainage distance is calculated to be ye ¼ 1,742 ft
varies from 0.0002 to 0.02 ft/min =2 (Economides et al. 1993). To
1
on the basis of a fracture that fully penetrates the drainage area.
be conservative, high values are considered in the range of 0.002 PIR values were calculated using Eq. 14, and the result is plotted
to 0.01 ft/min =2 in this study. The range of spurt loss is normally
1
in Fig. 1 for a reservoir porosity of 15%. It indicates that the PIR
from 0.1 to 2 gal/100 ft2, depending on rock and fluid properties. drops nonlinearly with leakoff coefficient and damage permeabil-
It is believed that the spurt loss in fracturing shale-gas reservoirs ity ratios. In the studied range of the leakoff coefficient, the well
is lower than that in conventional reservoirs because of the nano- productivity should drop by less than 8% even if the residual per-
darcy permeability of shale. Therefore, spurt-loss values ranging meability is 5% of the virgin reservoir permeability in the damage
from 0.1 to 1 gal/100 ft2 were used in this investigation. There are zone. Fig. 2 presents the PIR vs. leakoff coefficient with different
an infinite number of combinations of fluid properties (e.g., viscos- damage-permeability ratio values for a reservoir porosity of 7.5%.
ity, leakoff coefficient, spurt-loss coefficient) that are used in the It shows again that the PIR drops nonlinearly with leakoff coeffi-
field. Under the fracturing conditions shown in Table 2, only the cient and damage permeability ratio. In the practical range of the
4 combinations listed in Table 3 were investigated in this work leakoff coefficient, the well productivity should drop by less than
because of limited space. 14% even if the residual permeability is 5% of the virgin reservoir
The KGD fracture model was used to calculate the average permeability in the damage zone. A comparison of Figs. 1 and 2
fracture widths during fluid injection. The KGD fracture model reveals that the PIR does not drop by 50% when the porosity
was first presented by Kristianovitch and Zheltov (1955), assum- decreases by 50% (i.e., the PIR does not drop proportionally to

TABLE 3—CALCULATED INVASION DEPTHS OF FRACTURING FLUIDS INTO

GENERIC SHALE GAS RESERVOIR

Invasion Depth (ft)

Leakoff Coefficient Spurt-Loss Coefficient Fluid
(ft/min0.5) (gal/100 ft2) Viscosity (cp) Porosity ¼ 7.5% Porosity ¼ 15%

0.002 0.1 4 1.70 0.85

0.005 0.4 3 8.28 4.14
0.008 0.7 2 20.44 10.22
0.01 1 1 31.66 15.83

1.00
1.00
0.95
0.95
0.90
0.90 0.85
0.80
PIR

0.85
PIR

0.75
k s /k H
0.70
0.80 0.01 k s /k H
0.05 0.65 0.01
0.1
0.60 0.05
0.75 0.1
0.55
0.70 0.50
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01 0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01
Leakoff Coefficient (ft/min½) Leakoff Coefficient (ft/min½)

Fig. 1—Effects of leakoff coefficient and damage ratio on PIR of Fig. 2—Effects of leakoff coefficient and damage ratio on PIR of
a gas well with a finite-conductivity fracture fully penetrating a gas well with a finite-conductivity fracture fully penetrating
the drainage area (reservoir porosity is 15%). the drainage area (reservoir porosity is 7.5%).

350 September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion

 1.00
0.95
0.90
0.85
0.80
PIR
0.75
0.70
k s /k H
0.65 0.01
0.05
0.60
0.1
0.55
0.50
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01
Leakoff Coefficient (ft/min½)
Fig. 3—Effects of leakoff coefficient and damage ratio on PIR of
a gas well with an infinite-conductivity fracture penetrating the
drainage area by 50% (reservoir porosity is 15%).
reservoir porosity). This is explained by the nonlinear relationship
between the PIR and depth of invasion (ys) as shown in Eq. 14,
although the depth of invasion is inversely proportional to the res-
ervoir porosity.
Short-Fracture Case. The 4,000-ft-long fracture is considered to
be a short fracture in a 640-acre drainage area because xf /re ¼
0.67 < 0.8. Assuming a penetration of 50% into a rectangular
drainage area, the drainage distance is calculated to be ye ¼ 1,742
ft. PIR values were calculated using Eq. 15, and the result is pre-
sented in Fig. 3 for a reservoir porosity of 15%. It shows that the
PIR drops nonlinearly with leakoff coefficient and damage perme-
ability ratios. In the studied range of the leakoff coefficient, the
well productivity should drop by less than 15%, even if the resid-
ual permeability is 5% of the virgin reservoir permeability in the
damage zone.
Fig. 4 illustrates the trend of PIR as the leakoff coefficient
increases for a reservoir porosity of 7.5%. Again, it shows that the
PIR drops nonlinearly with leak-off coefficient and damage per-
meability ratio. In the studied range of the leakoff coefficient, the
well productivity should drop by less than 25% even if the resid-
ual permeability is 5% of the virgin reservoir permeability in the
damage zone. A comparison of Figs. 3 and 4 indicates that the
PIR does not drop by 50% when the porosity decreases by 50%
(i.e., the PIR drops non-proportionally with reservoir porosity).
This is explained by the nonlinear relationship between the PIR
and depth of invasion (ys) as shown in Eq. 15, although the depth
of invasion is inversely proportional to the reservoir porosity.
Long Fractures vs. Short Fractures. A comparison of Figs. 1
and 3 shows that the well with a short fracture has lower values of
PIR than the well with a long fracture. This is also seen from a
comparison of Figs. 2 and 4. This implies that wells with short in-
finite-conductivity fractures are more vulnerable to fracture-face
matrix damage. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to know the
true value of the PIR for model validation. Because of the model
assumption of a homogeneous reservoir, which is in favor of uni-
form invasion of fracturing fluids, the new model should overesti-
mate well PIR.
Summary of Parametric Sensitivity. Eqs. 14 and 15 show that
the effects of gas properties on PIR are canceled out, meaning
that the result has no sensitivity to gas properties (this further
implies that the model can also be used for oil reservoirs because
oil properties are not involved in the PIR equations). For short
fractures, Eq. 15 and the curves generated from it indicate that the
IPR is sensitive to the invasion depth and damaged permeability.
For long fractures, Eq. 14 and the curves generated from it indi-
cate that the IPR is affected by the invasion depth and damaged
permeability as well as by fracture dimension and conductivity.
Therefore, the invasion depth and damaged permeability are usu-
September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion
1.00
0.90
0.80
0.70
PIR
0.60
k s /k H
0.50 0.01
0.05
0.1
0.40
0.30
0 0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.01
Leakoff Coefficient (ft/min½)
Fig. 4—Effects of leakoff coefficient and damage ratio on PIR of
a gas well with an infinite-conductivity fracture penetrating the
drainage area by 50% (reservoir porosity is 7.5%).
ally the two most sensitive parameters to consider. Unfortunately,
the values of these two parameters are not easy to obtain for
shale-gas reservoirs because of low permeabilities on the order of
nanodarcies.
Comparison With Other Studies
The above PIR analyses with the two analytical models indicate
that, in the range of leakoff coefficients studied, the well produc-
tivity should drop by less than 25% even if the residual permeabil-
ity is only 5% of the virgin reservoir permeability in the damage
zone. This observation tends to verify the conclusion of Gdanski
et al. (2005) and Holditch (1979); that is, a fracture-face matrix
damage that results in a loss of 90% of the original permeability
may not affect gas production in a way that would be noticed.
No clean data set was found to compare calculation results
with actual field observations. Field practice indicates that good
shale-gas wells recover only 10 to 40% of water during flowback
after hydraulic fracturing (Ehlig-Economides and Economides,
2011), while wells with greater than 80% recovery of water are
usually the wells of low gas productivity. This fact contradicts the
theory of formation damage unless the effect of formation damage
is negligible, which is supported by the model analyses in this
study.
Conclusions
Two simplified analytical models were developed in this study to
investigate the significance of fracture-face matrix damage to well
productivity in shale-gas reservoirs. The first model was derived
on the basis of reservoir linear flow into long fractures (xf /re 
0.8) with finite conductivities. The second model was developed
assuming pseudoradial flow into short fractures (xf /re < 0.8) with
infinite conductivities. The models can be used by completion
engineers for assessment of potential impact of matrix-face dam-
age on shale-gas-well productivity. The following conclusions are
drawn:
1. The significance of fracture-face matrix damage to well pro-
ductivity depends on reservoir-rock properties and fracturing
conditions. In the ranges of reservoir and fluid properties used
in this study, well productivity should drop by less than 15%,
even if the residual matrix permeability is reduced to only 5%
of the virgin reservoir permeability in the damage zone. This
implies that the fracture-face matrix damage is not a strong
factor affecting well productivity in shale-gas reservoirs. It is
recommended, however, that if the fracturing-fluid properties
are out of the range used in this study, completion engineers
should use either Eq. 14 or Eq. 15 to assess the potential
impact of fracture-face matrix amage on shale-gas-well
productivity.
2. The well-productivity drop caused by matrix damage is most
sensitive to the invasion depth and damaged permeability. For
351
 a given shale-gas reservoir, accurate prediction of well-produc-
tivity drop with this model requires conducting laboratory tests
to determine these two parameters.
3. The PIR model indicates that formation damage by the fractur-
ing fluids is independent of reservoir-fluid properties. This
implies that the PIR model is equally valid for both gas reser-
voirs and oil reservoirs. Therefore, the PIR model can also be
applied to shale-oil-reservoir development with the hydraulic-
fracturing technology.
Nomenclature
c ¼ parameter defined by Eq. 11, ft 2
cs ¼ parameter defined by Eq. 2, ft 2
h ¼ net-pay thickness, ft
J ¼ productivity index of nondamaged well, Mscf/(D-psi2)
Js ¼ productivity index of damaged well, Mscf/(D- psi2)
Jsp ¼ specific productivity index, Mscf/(D-ft-psi2)
m
Jsp ¼ specific productivity index at the midpoint of the frac-
ture, Mscf/(D-ft-psi2)
kf ¼ effective fracture permeability, md
kH ¼ effective horizontal reservoir permeability, md
ks ¼ effective matrix permeability in the invaded zone, md
pe ¼ reservoir pressure, psi
pwf ¼ flowing bottomhole pressure, psi
PIR ¼ productivity-index ratio defined by Eq. 8
qg ¼ gas-production rate, Mscf/D
re ¼ well drainage radius, ft
T ¼ reservoir temperature, R
w ¼ the average fracture width, ft
x ¼ distance from the midpoint of the fracture, ft
xf ¼ fracture half-length, ft
ye ¼ drainage distance, ft
ys ¼ depth of fluid invasion, ft
z ¼ gas-compressibility factor, dimensionless
lg ¼ viscosity of gas, cp
Acknowledgments
This research was supported in part by the China National Key
Laboratory for Oil and Gas Field Development at the China
University of Petroleum (Beijing) through Project No.
2010CB226703 and Project No. 2009/2011ZX05009-005 and the
China NSF through Project No. 50974028 and 51134004. The
authors are also grateful to Chevron USA for providing Board of
Regents Chevron I and II Professorships at the University of Loui-
siana at Lafayette.
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September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion
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Jun Li is an Associate Professor at the China University of Petro-
leum (Beijing). His research interest is in gas drilling. Li holds BS,
MS, and PhD degrees from the China University of Petroleum,
all in petroleum engineering.
Boyun Guo is a Chevron Endowed Professor at the University of
Louisiana at Lafayette. His research interest is in oil and gas
well productivity enhancement. Guo holds a BS degree from
the Daqing Petroleum Institute, an MS degree from Montana
September 2012 SPE Drilling & Completion
Tech, and a PhD degree from New Mexico Tech, all in petro-
leum engineering. Guo serves as a reviewer for the SPE Drilling
& Completion journal.
Deli Gao is a Cheung Kong Scholars Endowed Professor at the
China University of Petroleum (Beijing). His research interests
include well drilling and completion engineering for oil and
gas. Gao holds BS and PhD degrees from the China University
of Petroleum, both in petroleum engineering, and an MS
degree from the Southwestern China Petroleum Institute in
mechanical engineering.
Chi Ai is a Professor at the Northeast Petroleum University. His
research interest is in oil and gas well drilling and completion.
Ai holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees from the Daqing Petroleum
Institute, all in petroleum engineering.
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