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The legacy of conventional fields has resulted in many low permeability reservoirs deemed sub-commercial without an appropriate stimulation strategy. With low permeabilities and potentially heterogeneous reservoir characteristics, an optimal development approach would highly depend on their specific reservoir properties that may well require stimulation methods other than hydraulic fracturing. In this paper, we present a fully integrated characterization and modeling workflow applied to the Kita-Akita oil field in northern Japan, demonstrating the screening process for multiple completion and stimulation methods in a highly heterogeneous, low permeability sandstone reservoir. To select a best completion and stimulation candidate from multiple methods, we constructed an evaluation matrix including the maturity of technologies, applicability to our reservoir, productivity, and economics. Multi-branch type completions such as radial drilling and fishbone drilling, as well as hydraulic fracturing were simulated and subsequently compared based on their productivities. Especially for the radial drilling and the fishbone drilling, a 3D FEM model was built for their complex laterals, and the inflow performances were evaluated with homogenous reservoir properties, respectively. Besides, due to the highly heterogeneous nature of the reservoir, we built a full-physics subsurface model based on a pilot-hole data acquisition and legacy 2D seismic lines. The 3D model served as a canvas to assess reservoir flow and geomechanical behavior, calibrated with production history from past producing wells in the 1950's to 1970's. Based on these models, the best infill drilling location was selected and multiple well completion and stimulation practices were evaluated. Through the screening methodology, the multi-stage hydraulic fracturing was identified as the best suited from an instantaneous productivity perspective. Yet, even though hydraulic fracturing would enhance the accessibility into multiple distinctively isolated sandstones occurring in the deepwater slope channel setting, the treatment costs exceeded the economic threshold significantly in our case. Inflow performance evaluation based on the 3D FEM modeling illustrates multi-branch type completions such as radial drilling and fishbone drilling were identified with a good stimulation skin factor. As a result of 3D simulation study, multi-branch completion was revealed as a technical and economically viable stimulation option in the heterogeneously distributed sandstone reservoirs. The advent of recent completion and stimulation techniques now renders low permeability reservoirs with relatively large development potential. Even with the development challenges quite different from conventional reservoirs, the approach shown in this paper provides a helpful reference for the study and decision-making process when the legacy field needs an optimal stimulation strategy.

Summary Acid stimulation of volcanic formations is rarely documented in the literature. A recent study however suggested its potential effectiveness through a comprehensive laboratory/modeling analysis and documented substantial permeability enhancement by dissolution of carbonate-cemented fractures in the near-wellbore area to create wormhole-like high-permeability channels. The study also presented a brief description of successful field execution, although operational details and analysis of results were not presented. This work presents in detail the field case of a multistage acidizing treatment in the Minami-Nagaoka gas field, a volcanic reservoir, and demonstrates the effectiveness of acid stimulation with 10% formic acid for productivity enhancement. The selection of a target well relies on the abundance of cemented fractures along a well. The operational design considers multiple field/well characteristics, such as low permeability; long, perforated intervals; and high-temperature conditions. Effectiveness of acid stimulation is evaluated comprehensively and justified by the integration of real-time stimulation diagnostics using distributed temperature sensing (DTS), real-time surveillance of bottomhole key parameters obtained thanks to coiled-tubing (CT) fiber-optic downhole telemetry, pre-/post-acidizing pressure buildup (PBU) tests, and production logging tool (PLT) surveys. A multistage acidizing operation was executed, after completion of a step-rate test during which a pre-acidizing DTS survey was acquired. Eight stages of 10% formic acid injection and seven stages of degradable particulate diverter placement were pumped, followed by brine displacement and a post-acidizing DTS acquisition. In all the stages, acid injection decreased the bottomhole pressure while the use of diverter increased it (by hundreds of psi), thus indicating success in acid stimulation and diversion, respectively. The stimulation almost doubled the gas flow rate just after the operation, and 10 months after the operation, the gas rate is still 1.5 times higher than before intervening. Pre-/post-acidizing PBU tests suggested a substantial reduction of the skin from 1.50 to −1.91. DTS surveying identified one major and three minor fluid-intake intervals through stimulation/diversion, and integrated analysis with PLTs revealed that the substantial improvement in gas rate was primarily coming from a narrow zone located within the major intake interval, where resistive fractures are abundant. The current case demonstrates the effectiveness of 10% formic acid for the stimulation of rocks with carbonate-cemented fractures, which was also proposed by the former study. It also shows that there is still room for further optimization in the operational design. This paper provides insights on acid stimulation in volcanic rocks and highlights its effectiveness through the analysis of a series of data sets. Readers may obtain knowledge on acidizing design, the evaluation of its effectiveness, and the interpretation of results, with lessons learned through job execution. The study will also serve as a reference to evaluate the potential of acid stimulation for the development of other volcanic reservoirs.

Productivity of multistage-fractured gas wells is possibly degraded by conductivity impairments and non-Darcy flow during long-term production. Such degradations are pronounced by flow convergence to short perforated intervals, while it is challenging to identify degraded stages for remediation. Moreover, remedial actions can be expensive under high-pressure and high-temperature (HP/HT) environment. A field case demonstrates successful application of re-perforation as a cost-effective way to mitigate the flow convergence by prioritizing targets with multi-rate production logging (PL) results. This work presents theoretical investigations using numerical simulations and field execution of re-perforation for a well with six-stage fracturing treatments in a HP/HT volcanic gas reservoir onshore Japan. Apparent conductivity reduction was suspected during more than 15 years of production, and it was pronounced by non-Darcy flow effects associated with flow convergence to short perforated intervals. Multi-rate PL was employed to identify impaired stages by quantifying inflow performance relationship (IPR) of each stage under transient flow-after-flow testing. The impaired stages were re-perforated adding perforation intervals with wireline-conveyed perforators. Pre/post pressure build-up tests and post-job PL were used to validate productivity improvements. Target zones for re-perforations were identified and prioritized with results of the multi-rate PL conducted. The stage IPRs were drawn, and relatively large non-Darcy effects were identified in three stages by shapes of the IPRs and/or decreasing inflow contributions as surface rate increased. Also, temperature log showed steep temperature change at bottom of the 4th stage; the fracture might propagate below the perforated interval. Ranges of production increment were estimated using a numerical model calibrated against the estimated stage IPRs. The estimated increment was in range of 15% to 30% with planned re-perforation program while its magnitude depended on connection between new perforations and existing fractures. Afterwards, re-perforation job was done, and, the gas rate was confirmed to be increased by 26% with the same well-head pressure after one month of production. The post-job PL was conducted three months after the re-perforation. The well's IPR was improved implying reduction of the non-Darcy effects. Results of pressure build-up tests also indicated reduction of skin factor. The stage IPRs were redrawn with the post-job PL, and they suggested clear improvements in two stages where screen-out occurred during fracturing treatments and a stage where significant non-Darcy effect was suspected. The workflow and strategy in this paper can be applied for productivity restoration in a cost-effective way to multi-stage fractured gas wells with short perforated intervals and impaired apparent conductivity during long-term production. Especially, the interpreted results suggested effectiveness of the proposed approach for productivity improvement in stages where screenout occurs during fracturing treatments. Moreover, lessons learned on importance of careful test designs for PL were discussed because they are keys for success.

Summary Productivity of multistage-fractured gas wells is possibly degraded by conductivity impairments and non-Darcy flow during long-term production. Such degradations are pronounced by flow convergence to short perforated intervals, while it is challenging to identify degraded stages for remediation. Moreover, remedial actions can be expensive under a high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) environment. A field case demonstrates successful application of reperforation as a cost-effective way to mitigate the flow convergence by prioritizing targets with multirate production-logging (PL) results. This work presents theoretical investigations using numerical simulations and field execution of reperforation for a well with six-stage fracturing treatments in a HP/HT volcanic gas reservoir onshore Japan. Apparent conductivity reduction was suspected during more than 15 years of production, and it was pronounced by non-Darcy flow effects associated with flow convergence to short perforated intervals. Multirate PL was used to identify impaired stages by quantifying the inflow-performance relationship (IPR) of each stage under transient flow-after-flow (FAF) testing. The impaired stages were reperforated, adding perforation intervals with wireline-conveyed perforators. Pressure-buildup (PBU) tests before and after the job and post-job PL were used to validate productivity improvements. Target zones for reperforations were identified and prioritized with results of the multirate PL conducted. The stage IPRs were drawn, and relatively large non-Darcy effects were identified in three stages by shapes of the IPRs and/or decreasing inflow contributions as the surface rate increased. Also, a temperature log showed steep temperature change at the bottom of the fourth stage; the fracture might propagate below the perforated interval. Ranges of production increment were estimated using a numerical model calibrated against the estimated stage IPRs. The estimated increment was in the range of 15 to 30% with the planned reperforation program, while its magnitude depended on the connection between new perforations and existing fractures. Afterward, the reperforation job was performed and the gas rate was confirmed to be increased by 26% with the same wellhead pressure after 1 month of production. The post-job PL was conducted 3 months after the reperforation. The well IPR was improved, implying reduction of the non-Darcy effects. Results of PBU tests also indicated reduction of skin factor. The stage IPRs were redrawn with the post-job PL, and they suggested clear improvements in two stages where screenout occurred during fracturing treatments and a stage where significant non-Darcy effect was suspected. The workflow and strategy in this paper can be applied for productivity restoration in a cost-effective way to multistage-fractured gas wells with short perforated intervals and impaired apparent conductivity during long-term production. Especially, the interpreted results suggested effectiveness of the proposed approach for productivity improvement in stages where screenout occurs during fracturing treatments. Moreover, lessons learned on the importance of careful test designs for PL were discussed because they are keys for success.