This paper presents an operator's approach to optimize future well performance by fully integrating all the data captured in the Vaca Muerta shale. Based upon insight from the study, the operator needed to make more informed asset management decisions, understand the interaction between the shale and the hydraulic fracture network, and improve economics. Data were captured from several wells, both vertical and horizontal. The data incorporated into the study included fieldwide seismic data, as well as mineralogical, geomechanical, well plan, drilling, completion, microseismic monitoring, and production data from the wells.The project comprised one case history involving the hydraulic fracture stimulation treatment of a cluster of horizontal wells. Microseismic hydraulic fracture monitoring (HFM) was utilized to "track" the development of the hydraulic fractures in real time as they propagated throughout the formation. The stimulation activity from the well was monitored from a horizontal array placed in a horizontal lateral drilled parallel to the target well but landed~80 m shallower in the vertical section.An integrated unconventional-reservoir-specific workflow was utilized to develop and evaluate the completion strategies for the subject well. First, a fieldwide 3D static geologic model was constructed using the aforementioned data to determine the best reservoir and completion qualities of the Vaca Muerta formation. Next, the model was used to develop the completion strategy, including staging, perforation scheme, stimulation design, etc., for the wells. The completion strategy and stimulation design were performed utilizing an automated, rigorous, and efficient multistaging algorithm (completion advisor). This enabled targeting the reservoir section having the best reservoir and completion qualities for the stimulation treatments. The stimulation designs were performed using a state-of-the-art unconventional hydraulic fracture simulator that properly simulates the complex fracture propagation in shale reservoirs, including the explicit interaction of the hydraulic fractures to the pre-existing natural fissures in the formation and performs automatic gridding of the created complex fractures to rigorously model the production response from the tridimensional fracture network.A comparison between the microseismic fracture geometry to the planned fracture geometry is revealing; it shows that the application of this new technology can identify some of the complications and

Development of organic shale reservoirs with large hydraulic fracture treatments has unveiled challenges related not only to the completion of a single well but also to interference with its surrounding neighbors. Interference can be caused by fracture hits while completing the well, competition for drainage area during production, or fracture geometry deterioration due to stress field variation when infill-drilling a child well near a produced parent well. A direct consequence of interference is production loss. Therefore, the drilling and completion schedule for field development becomes four-dimensional in time and space to account for interaction in between wells. The objective of this work is to set up a physics-based model of interference and perform a sensitivity study to propose guidelines for well spacing and a drilling timeline for multiple horizontal wells in the Vaca Muerta shale. Production of organic shale responds to the reservoir deliverability and contact surface between the formation and the wellbore through hydraulic fractures. A reservoir-centric workflow applied to the Vaca Muerta shale is proposed by integrating all the steps from well construction to production including reservoir petrophysics and geomechanics, nonplanar hydraulic fracture geometry, and production simulation with fit-for-purpose simulators. With respect to space, a multiple-well model enables investigating possible hydraulic fracture overlap between laterals and competition for drainage as a function of the well spacing. With respect to time, reservoir depletion can be tracked, and the corresponding stress field variations are estimated using a three-dimensional geomechanical finite-element simulator. The hydraulic fracture geometry and production of a child infill well is simulated based on this updated stress field where a modified stress contrast has been created by the depletion of the parent well. By running different scenarios, competition for drainage between wells is quantitatively evaluated to balance individual well performance and field recovery. Factors affecting well spacing such as lateral landing, stress profile, hydraulic fracture geometry, and number of pay intervals developed jointly are investigated. With regards to completion, well spacing acts as an additional geometrical constraint, and its impact on the completion optimization process, when compared to a standalone lateral, is discussed. Regarding the drilling sequence, a time-dependent relation between infill-drilling of a child well and the production loss due to the effect of stress alteration near a producing parent well is derived. Recommendations for well spacing and completion modifications are provided to minimize the production loss of the child well at different stages of the production of the parent well. The proposed approach places the completion of each well in the field development context by considering a four-dimensional reservoir depletion, geomechanics, and hydraulic simulation coupling. The methodology provides a quantitative impact on production along with practical drilling timeline and completion recommendations when planning for multiple wells in a field development.