Eagle Ford Completion Optimization Using Horizontal Log Data

Slocombe, Robin; Acock, A.M.; Fisher, Kevin; Viswanathan, Anup; Chadwick, C.E.; Reischman, Richard; Wigger, Eric

doi:10.2118/166242-ms

Cited by 37 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In fact, if anything there is a disconnect between stress shadow modeling and the available data; to the authors' knowledge none of the published PLT data for multistage, multi-entry-point hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells (e.g. Cipolla et al, 2011;Slocombe et al, 2013) shows any evidence of intrastage patterns of production that would be consistent with stress shadow impacts. Whats more, the existing PLT data is only rarely, and then partially, presented along with enough information for the reader to group perforation clusters into stages in order to look for patterns of production that may or may not be consistent with the prediction of stress shadow models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Spatial distribution of production in a Marcellus Shale well: Evidence for hydraulic fracture stress interaction

Bunger

Cardella

2015

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Baihly et al, 2010). This approach has been shown to decrease the percentage of non-producing clusters from ∼36% to ∼18% in Eagle Ford wells (Slocombe et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial distribution of production in a Marcellus Shale well: Evidence for hydraulic fracture stress interaction

Bunger

Cardella

2015

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

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“…There are various explanations to this including not initiating hydraulic fractures, insufficient proppant placement, or loss of near-wellbore connection due to over flushing or severe drawdown. One likely cause is hydraulic fractures not initiating in a few perforation clusters due to variation of rock properties along the lateral when placed geometrically (Slocombe et al, 2013). This study uses observations and data presented by Slocombe et al (2013) to create the distribution of stress along the lateral.…”

Section: Example 1: Single-well Padmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Hydrocarbon Recovery of Horizontal Shale Wells Through Refracturing

Malpani

Sinha

Charry

et al. 2015

Day 2 Wed, October 21, 2015

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The learning curve has evolved in the last few years for operators in shale plays. Early wells started with relatively large cluster spacing and small proppant volumes resulting in suboptimal initial completions. Over the years, perforation cluster spacing has declined. Consequently, the number of hydraulic fracturing stages has increased. The total proppant pumped per lateral foot has also increased. The majority of the existing wells were completed with geometrically spaced multiple perforation clusters per stage. Sometimes more than six clusters per stage have been employed. Studies have shown that one-third of these perforation clusters are not productive (Miller et al., 2011). Noncontributing perforation clusters could be due to not initiating hydraulic fractures, insufficient proppant placement, or loss of near-wellbore connection due to over-flushing or severe drawdown. Furthermore, during the development phase, the depletion from parent wells leads to asymmetric hydraulic fracture growth on closely spaced infill wells. Parent wells may also be negatively impacted due to hydraulic fracture interference from new completions. These factors have led to poor hydrocarbon recovery factors, sometimes less than 10% in horizontal shale wells.Recovery factors from existing wells can be improved through restimulation. Candidate selection is a key in achieving economically successful restimulation. Restimulation of appropriate horizontal shale wells resulted in significant production uplifts based on early field results. Designing a fit-for-purpose restimulation treatment is dependent on initial completion, offset well distance, infill plan, and, above all, economics. On top of the design aspect, operationally achieving effective restimulation on long horizontal wells with tens of perforation clusters is a challenging task. Thus real-time monitoring and control is a key for field execution.This work uses an integrated petrophysical, geomechanical, hydraulic fracture, and reservoir modeling workflow and field observations to develop restimulation strategies for improving hydrocarbon recovery. This integrated workflow includes a multistep calibration process to reduce uncertainty. One of the key calibration steps is to model hydraulic fracture growth accounting for local geological heterogeneity and match with observed treatment parameters and microseismic interpretations. Another critical calibration step includes automatic gridding of hydraulic fracture geometry to run numerical reservoir simulation to match realized production results. Reservoir pressure distribution at the end of the production history is used to recalculate stresses for modeling the refracturing scenarios.Multiple practical refracturing scenarios were constructed for addressing near-wellbore connectivity issues and ineffective drainage along the lateral. Creating new surface area in undrained rock and restoring productivity of existing hydraulic fractures resulted in higher recovery. Higher proppant amounts in undrained rock on one well pad or late...

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“…In this case, it is recommended to keep good distance for perforation clusters away from major faults or potential water connectors in the reservoirs. Slocombe et al (2013) indicated that about 36% of the perforated clusters are not effective in the Eagle Ford. That paper outlines a methodology of using log data obtained in horizontal wells for improving stimulation efficiency and enhancing productivity.…”

Section: Avoiding Water Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this may not necessarily result in the most optimal completion design. In a recent study, it was reported that about 1/3 of the perforated clusters on average were not flowing as measured by production logs (Slocombe et al, 2013, Fisher et al, 2004. Obviously the non-effective perforation clusters are a big portion of the total stimulation cost.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural Fractures in Unconventional Shale Reservoirs in US and their Roles in Well Completion Design and Improving Hydraulic Fracturing Stimulation Efficiency and Production

2014

SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

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Most of the shale reservoirs in US land are naturally fractured. The fracture intensity and types vary from one shale to another. Even within the same shale in the same field, the heterogeneity of fracture intensity can be often expected to be high in a horizontal well. The current popular geometrical completion design can potentially ignore the existence of natural fractures. Hence, maximizing stimulation efficiency without understanding existing natural fractures can be a challenge. In this paper, study was made of the majority of the published case studies related to natural fractures in the US shales in the last 20 years. The evidence of natural fractures from either outcrops or subsurface data, i.e. core, borehole images, or other data is summarized for each studied shale. The latest studies show that the hydraulic fracture propagation can be strongly influenced by existing natural fractures regardless of whether they are open or closed. The roles of existing fractures in the shales include: 1) providing enhanced reservoir permeability for improved productivity if they are open and effectively connected by hydraulic fractures; 2) promoting much better fracturing network complexity regardless of whether they are open or closed prior to the stimulation; 3) giving possible negative impact sometimes, i.e. high water cut, if they are connected with wet zones below or above the reservoirs. It can be concluded that engineered completion designs that employ accurate knowledge of natural fracture data, in-situ stresses, and other reservoir and completion quality indicators as inputs can provide opportunities for enhancing stimulation efficiency and fracturing network complexity. This in turn can lead to better connectivity to a larger reservoir volume and access to more drainage area in the shales.

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Eagle Ford Completion Optimization Using Horizontal Log Data

Cited by 37 publications

References 3 publications

Spatial distribution of production in a Marcellus Shale well: Evidence for hydraulic fracture stress interaction

Spatial distribution of production in a Marcellus Shale well: Evidence for hydraulic fracture stress interaction

Improving Hydrocarbon Recovery of Horizontal Shale Wells Through Refracturing

Natural Fractures in Unconventional Shale Reservoirs in US and their Roles in Well Completion Design and Improving Hydraulic Fracturing Stimulation Efficiency and Production

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