Evaluation of Two Horizontal Wells in the Eagle Ford Using Oil-Based Chemical Tracer Technology to Optimize Stimulation Design

Abstract

Horizontal well positioning through a target formation can have a significant impact on overall productivity from an unconventional oil well. This paper will discuss the evaluation of two horizontal wells completed in the oil section of the Eagle Ford Shale. These wells were completed using similar completion designs (hybrid frac design) with the method and number of frac stages determined by the geology, petrophysical, or geomechanical data. The paper will describe how conventional analysis technologies including completion, flowback, and production data were compared to the relative oil flow from each stage measured using a recently developed hydrocarbon tracer technology to provide critical information on optimal well path design for use during future well development. The stage production data provided by the use of the hydrocarbon tracers allows engineers to modify and improve their completion and stimulation programs. This paper will highlight tracer response interpretations of the two wells presented and the current status of the hydrocarbon-based tracer technology for hydraulic fracturing applications.

Diagnosing Hydraulic Fracture Geometry, Complexity, and Fracture Wellbore Connectivity Using Chemical Tracer Flowback

“…Since fracture closure was not modeled in these simulations, almost 100% recovery of the injected tracer was observed during flowback. However, several field studies have shown very low tracer recovery [19,20,37]. The tracer retention due to fracture closure can help in understanding the low tracer recovery, which is explained in the next section.…”

“…Figure19. Fractures in a complex fracture network categorized based on the connectivity of a fracture to the wellbore.…”

Post-Treatment Horizontal Hydraulic Fracture Modeling with Integrated Chemical Tracer Analysis, a Case Study

“…The use of chemical tracers in unconventionals can provide information about the relative effectiveness of hydraulic factures. Chemical tracers can also be used to examine stage or interval contribution over time (Catlett et al 2013). From a reservoir characterization standpoint, tracer technology has the potential to provide "ground truth" geological interpretations.…”

Design, synthesis and performance of novel fluorescent polymer microspheres tracers based on aggregation induced emission

“…Tracers are powerful diagnostic tools in numerous scientific disciplines and in many fields of industrial technology 1–6 . Meanwhile, these had broad application prospects in the field of oil fields 7–9 .…”

“…Tracers are powerful diagnostic tools in numerous scientific disciplines and in many fields of industrial technology. [1][2][3][4][5][6] Meanwhile, these had broad application prospects in the field of oil fields. [7][8][9] The tracers can return the underground situation to the ground through signals, which can better assist in the field survey of oil reservoirs (including inter-well connections, inter-layer connections and heterogeneity).…”