Efficient development technology of Upper Paleozoic Lower Shihezi tight sandstone gas reservoir in northeastern Ordos Basin

The Lower Shihezi Formation of the Upper Paleozoic at the northeastern margin of the Ordos Basin develops widely distributed thick massive and multilayer gas reservoirs. How to formulate an effective development policy is a difficult and hot spot. In this article, reservoir characteristics and production capacity influencing factors of the tight gas sandstone in Lower Shihezi Formation in this area are systematically studied, and optimization schemes of development measures for massive and multilayer gas reservoirs are proposed. The results show that the petrophysical characteristics of the small pore–mesopore type gas reservoir in the target layer are the best, with the average porosity, permeability, and coordination number of 7.6%, 0.74 mD, and 3.3, respectively. Thick sand body, high structural position, good petrophysical properties, and high drilling rate of sandstone are all conducive to drilling high production gas wells. Development policies for massive and multilayer gas reservoirs have been formulated: (1) the preferred well type for massive gas reservoir is vertical well + horizontal well, while the preferred well type for multilayer gas reservoir is horizontal well + stepped horizontal well; (2) the reasonable horizontal segment length of massive gas reservoir is 1,000 m, and the reasonable horizontal segment length of multilayer gas reservoir is 1,250 m; (3) similar to massive and multilayer gas reservoirs, the more the fracture stages, the higher the cumulative gas production, and the optimal fracture stage number of both gas reservoirs is 8; (4) the optimal fracture half-length and the angle between the fracture and the horizontal section are 140 m and 90°, respectively; and (5) the reasonable well spacing of vertical wells is 600 m and that of horizontal wells is 750 m. The development policy proposed in this study is suitable for the efficient development of complex tight sandstone gas reservoirs in similar areas.