The Importance of Slow Slip on Faults During Hydraulic Fracturing Stimulation of Shale Gas Reservoirs

TLDR

The study argues that slow slip on pre‑existing fractures and faults is a key deformation mechanism that enhances slick‑water hydraulic fracturing in low‑permeability shale gas reservoirs, and that predicting this slip can optimize field operations and improve recovery. The authors performed laboratory rate‑and‑state friction tests on shales with varying clay content, modeled fluid‑pressure‑induced slip on poorly oriented faults, and reviewed long‑period seismic observations to characterize slow slip during stimulation. Experiments show that shales with less than ~30 % clay produce unstable slip and microseismic events, while higher‑clay shales slip slowly; because slow slip emits little high‑frequency energy, conventional microseismic monitoring misses it, leaving only a generalized view of pressurization that does not correlate with productivity.

Abstract

Abstract We utilize several lines of evidence to argue that slow slip on pre-existing fractures and faults is an important deformation mechanism contributing to the effectiveness of slick-water hydraulic fracturing for stimulating production in extremely low permeability shale gas reservoirs. First, we carried out rate and state friction experiments in the laboratory using shale samples from three different formations with a large range of clay content. These experiements indicated that slip on faults in shales comprised of less than about 30% clay is expected to propagate unstably, thus generating conventional microseismic events. In contrast, in formations containing more than about 30% clay are expected to slip slowly. Second, we illustrate through modeling that slip induced by high fluid pressure on faults that are poorly oriented for slip in the current stress field is expected to be slow, principally because slip cannot occur faster than fluid pressure propagates along the fault plane. Because slow fault slip does not generate high frequency seismic waves, conventional microseismic monitoring does not routinely detect what appears to be a critical process during stimulation. Thus, microseismic events are expected to give only a generalized picture of where pressurization is occurring in a shale gas reservoir during stimulation which helps explain why microseismicity does not appear to correlate with relative productivity. We review observations of long-period-long-duration seismic events that appear to be generated by slow slip on mis-oriented fault planes during stimulation of the Barnett shale. Prediction of how pre-existing faults and fractures shear in response to hydraulic stimulation can help optimize field operations and improve recovery.