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EPA's Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources

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Gas Flow Tightly Coupled to Elastoplastic Geomechanics for Tight- and Shale-Gas Reservoirs: Material Failure and Enhanced Permeability

Jihoon Kim and George Moridis. Society of Petroleum Engineers. December 2014.

Summary

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in consultation with EPA, has developed new models to better describe how gas flows in tight and shale gas reservoirs (low permeability reservoirs). The models will better simulate the physics in highly stress-sensitive reservoirs through the representation of tightly coupled flow and geomechanics (which involves the geologic study of the behavior of soil and rock). The simulations were used in gas wells with vertical and horizontal primary fractures. EPA will use the models to accurately demonstrate the flow of gas during production in tight and shale gas reservoirs. This work was done as part of EPA's Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas on Drinking Water Resources.

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EPA's Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources