{"id":{"repo_id":"houston","oai_identifier":"oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/4844"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/houston/oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/4844","repository":{"repo_id":"houston","name":"University of Houston","base_url":"https://uh-ir.tdl.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Model for a Shale Gas Formation with Salt-Sealed Natural Fractures","abstract":"There are reported cases of hydraulically fractured shale wells that exhibit boundary dominated flow in a very short period. This study suggests that dissolution of salt-sealed natural fractures in the shale offers a novel explanation for the early boundary dominated flow. We first discuss a plausible diagenetic history for generation of a salt-sealed natural fracture system in shale gas and how core, log, and conventional test data may behave. We then note that flowback of water with significantly higher salinity than the injected fracture fluid may suggest that the injected low salinity fracturing fluid dissolved salts that sealed an existing natural fracture system. In this scenario, the effective permeability would represent that of the natural fracture system induced by salt dissolution, and the stimulated rock volume would be directly related to the leakoff volume. A simple material balance model tracks salt dissolution by leaked off fracturing fluid and estimates the resulting stimulated rock volume.","abstract_html":"There are reported cases of hydraulically fractured shale wells that exhibit boundary dominated flow in a very short period. This study suggests that dissolution of salt-sealed natural fractures in the shale offers a novel explanation for the early boundary dominated flow. We first discuss a plausible diagenetic history for generation of a salt-sealed natural fracture system in shale gas and how core, log, and conventional test data may behave. We then note that flowback of water with significantly higher salinity than the injected fracture fluid may suggest that the injected low salinity fracturing fluid dissolved salts that sealed an existing natural fracture system. In this scenario, the effective permeability would represent that of the natural fracture system induced by salt dissolution, and the stimulated rock volume would be directly related to the leakoff volume. A simple material balance model tracks salt dissolution by leaked off fracturing fluid and estimates the resulting stimulated rock volume.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Merry, Hoagie"],"institution":"University of Houston","degree_name":"Master of Science","degree_level":"Masters","degree_discipline":"Petroleum Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Ehlig-Economides, Christine"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Myers, Michael T.","Qin, Guan","Teets, Thomas S."],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-05","date_published":"2015-05","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:32:27Z","subjects":["Fracture porosity","SRV","DSRV","Dissolution","Imbibition","Salt","Material balance"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10657/4844","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Ehlig-Economides, Christine"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Myers, Michael T.","Qin, Guan","Teets, Thomas S."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Merry, Hoagie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2019-09-18T18:54:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-09-18T18:54:14Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2015-05"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Petroleum Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Houston"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Fracture porosity","SRV","DSRV","Dissolution","Imbibition","Salt","Material balance"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10657/4844"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There are reported cases of hydraulically fractured shale wells that exhibit boundary dominated flow in a very short period. This study suggests that dissolution of salt-sealed natural fractures in the shale offers a novel explanation for the early boundary dominated flow. We first discuss a plausible diagenetic history for generation of a salt-sealed natural fracture system in shale gas and how core, log, and conventional test data may behave. We then note that flowback of water with significantly higher salinity than the injected fracture fluid may suggest that the injected low salinity fracturing fluid dissolved salts that sealed an existing natural fracture system. In this scenario, the effective permeability would represent that of the natural fracture system induced by salt dissolution, and the stimulated rock volume would be directly related to the leakoff volume. A simple material balance model tracks salt dissolution by leaked off fracturing fluid and estimates the resulting stimulated rock volume."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Model for a Shale Gas Formation with Salt-Sealed Natural Fractures"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Ehlig-Economides, Christine"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Myers, Michael T.","Qin, Guan","Teets, Thomas S."],"dc:creator":["Merry, Hoagie"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2019-09-18T18:54:14Z"],"dc:date.available":["2019-09-18T18:54:14Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2015-05"],"dc:description.abstract":["There are reported cases of hydraulically fractured shale wells that exhibit boundary dominated flow in a very short period. This study suggests that dissolution of salt-sealed natural fractures in the shale offers a novel explanation for the early boundary dominated flow. We first discuss a plausible diagenetic history for generation of a salt-sealed natural fracture system in shale gas and how core, log, and conventional test data may behave. We then note that flowback of water with significantly higher salinity than the injected fracture fluid may suggest that the injected low salinity fracturing fluid dissolved salts that sealed an existing natural fracture system. In this scenario, the effective permeability would represent that of the natural fracture system induced by salt dissolution, and the stimulated rock volume would be directly related to the leakoff volume. A simple material balance model tracks salt dissolution by leaked off fracturing fluid and estimates the resulting stimulated rock volume."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10657/4844"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:rights":["The author of this work is the copyright owner. UH Libraries and the Texas Digital Library have their permission to store and provide access to this work. Further transmission, reproduction, or presentation of this work is prohibited except with permission of the author(s)."],"dc:subject":["Fracture porosity","SRV","DSRV","Dissolution","Imbibition","Salt","Material balance"],"dc:title":["Model for a Shale Gas Formation with Salt-Sealed Natural Fractures"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Petroleum Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Houston"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:32:27Z"}