In recent years, several papers have been published on the subject of rock properties, stress and permeability models in the Vaca Muerta unconventional formation, with the intention of understanding fractured well performance. In most cases, however, these publications have failed on providing sufficient information to adequately describe the generated models, nor have studied in detail the benefits and limitations of applying different schools of thought and incorporating field measurements during the design and evaluation of hydraulic fractures. This work seeks to explain a systematic approach to characterize, constrain and validate such models through integration of prefrac diagnostic injections, core data, independently-determined fracture dimensions, and postfrac production data. The final objective is to build predictive models that can be used to improve completion strategies in this promising but still immature play.

The role of the Business, Management, and Leadership Committee (BMLC) of the Internatioal Society of Petroleum Engineers International (SPE) has been critical in raising awareness among SPE members regarding the need to develop and enhance interpersonal skills, which such skills are required in addition to "hard" or technical skills to effectively advance careers and sustain growth in the upstream oil and gas sector. Endorsed at the highest level of SPE, the BMLC have consistently developed a series of activities providing a path of enrichment for SPE's membership of over 156,000 worldwide, in different languages and formats. This paper summarizes the journey of the BMLC, how the committee's work created a change in the perception of the importance of these skills, previously called "soft", to sustain success, and shares some best practices and learned lessons. The need for enhancing and elevating management, business, and leadership skills is somewhat obvious to those who have experienced the impact these skills can have for advancing in a role, for fostering effective teamwork, for networking with colleagues of the same discipline, for securing a path to a promotion, and for being recognized for a compelling work performance. Historically, for individuals working in the upstream oil and gas sector, having excellent to outstanding technical skills suffices for recognition and reward, to add to this the need for business, management, and leadership skills is not an easy task. Starting by the meager allocation of training budgets in corporations for non-technical training programs, and considering there is a prevailing bias that some skills like resilience or negotiation are inborn, there is no surprise in noting there is self-shame in admitting that one needs a course in – for example- stress control or similar personal skills. The open conversation about strong skills was needed within SPE, to support members to achieve more, leaving behind misconceptions that hamper success. The journey of the BMLC has been challenging, and the compilation done for this paper surprised the authors, about the accelerated multiplication of benefits the BML has provided to SPE members. We will summarize some figures pertinent to the activities of the Committee, as well as some historical background on the launching and growth. We will also share what works for launching, maintaining and expanding similar programs for strong skills in corporate environments.

Diagnostic fracture injection tests contain critical information for reservoir characterization and hydraulic fracturing design, defining every input and output of the simulation modeling process. They help to assess the expected fracture geometry, proppant pack conductivity, formation flow capacity, and optimum hydraulic fracture design. At the same time, these data provide the necessary means to place a frac job adequately. However, interpretation challenges and inherent modeling nonuniqueness demonstrate the need for more constraints to reduce the solution space. Proprietary workflows have been applied using a 3D planar shear decoupled hydraulic fracture simulator to several vertical wells in the Vaca Muerta play in Argentina. The generated information makes it possible to build models consistent with multiple independent measurements from bottom-hole gauges, near wellbore, and far-field assessments of fracture geometry, which permit us to better understand production performance of the wells. The proposed workflow can be utilized to collapse the learning curve in a significant and meaningful way, playing a vital role in the optimization of horizontal wells and the field development strategy.

Multi-horizontal well pads are the norm in unconventional reservoirs development with wells having multi-stage fracture treatments pumped across predefined perforation cluster configurations, horizontal landing positions and well lateral spacings. Inter-intra stage and inter-well stress shadow patterns for a predefined chronological fracturing sequence can be utilized to enhance proppant distribution across the host rock, contacting additional net pay and improving the production performance of wells in ultra-tight reservoirs. 3D geomechanical models of a middle cretaceous carbonaceous shale are calibrated to UAE Shilaif Shale conditions and incorporated into a grid-oriented planar 3D fracture simulator. A large number of simulations are utilized to develop knowledge and understanding regarding the stress shadow effects on fracture geometry related to the geological heterogeneity, completion parameters, hydraulic fracture design and different chronological hydraulic fracturing sequences. The main purpose of this paper is to develop a hydraulic fracturing completion methodology focused on finding a chronological fracturing sequence across several wells that will maximize their production performance and longevity by enhancing the proppant coverage in the host rock.

Recent papers on pre-frac tests have proposed fracture closure pressure interpretation methodologies that lead to an earlier, higher stress estimation than the ones estimated from well-established practices. These early time estimations based on the fracture compliance method lead the practitioner to utilize unrealistic permeability, stress, and fracture pressure models. This, in turn, has a severe impact on the modeled fracture geometries which hinders the hydraulic fracture optimization process. A multi-basin analysis of pre-frac tests from the North Sea, Europe, Russia, North Africa and South America is presented to support traditional closure estimation techniques. The validity of traditional minimum stress interpretation techniques will be reinforced through multiple case histories by comparing permeability estimates from the time required for the fracture to achieve closure during diagnostic injections, after-closure analysis, core, pressure build up and rate transient analysis. Results will be supported further by fiber optics and production logging tool (PLT) driven flow allocation, fracture geometry assessment through micro seismic and sonic anisotropy, and diagnostic injections numerical inversions.