Hydraulic fracturing in the overpressured, isotropically stressed Cane Creek Unit, Paradox Basin

The Cane Creek reservoir within the Paradox Basin in southeast Utah is an unconventional oil play that poses substantial geomechanical and hydrological challenges. With hundreds of millions of oil barrels in place, this resource is a viable target, but a greater understanding of the subsurface geomechanics is required for more reliable and consistent production. We analyze a previous hydraulic stimulation of the State 16-2 LN-CC well, located in the northern part of the basin, to produce recommendations for how future stimulations might be improved. Specifically, we look at three components of the completed stimulation: spatial correlations of various well logs to identify regions favorable for retaining hydrocarbons within natural fractures, analysis of pressure-time data from the hydraulic fracturing stages during well stimulation to assess the complexity of the fracture networks, and evaluation of poroelastic effects from reservoir depletion to assess the potential for future restimulation. Results of our analysis provide quantitative insight about the State 16-2 LN-CC stimulation and yield specific recommendations. The most important recommendation is to stimulate regions with geomechanically stable fractures due to their ability to retain hydrocarbons. Restimulation, if needed, may be more effective if completed after significant depletion due to poroelastic stress changes. Although the direction of maximum horizontal stress is a critical factor, it might be less crucial if restimulation is conducted after considerable reservoir depletion.