Frac Pack Completion Scorecard: The Importance of Scoring High

Marquez, Maricel; Knobles, Mark Moseley; Norman, W.D.; Oudtshoorn, Cobus; Naha, Susmito

doi:10.2118/166253-ms

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…While frac-pack has been a highly successful completion technique for various parts of the world, not least the Gulf of Mexico, there is no doubt that it is a sensitive and complex completion approach with multiple opportunities for failure and/or loss of efficiency (Marquez et al, 2013). This sensitivity, while well understood, renders both a complex and unforgiving environment when additional issues arise in the operational deployment.…”

Section: Frac-pack Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

StressCage and Frac Pack: Drilling the Conventionally Undrillable Without Creating the Unfraccable

Rylance

Mahadev

2016

Day 4 Thu, May 05, 2016

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There is little doubt that the success and reliability of frac-pack completions in the Gulf of Mexico has become the yard-stick by which Gulf of Mexico sand control completions are currently measured. Simultaneously, StressCage has become common practice as a method to overcome challenges drilling through depleted zones, in order to cope with complex mud-window constraints for new developments and infill wells. The success of these drilling and completion approaches and their rapid widespread application has resulted in ever more depletion. This has potentially created a vicious circle in terms of drilling the well to desired depth vs. the ability to install a low-skin frac-pack completion.While these two techniques in isolation represent uniquely optimal solutions to their individual challenges, there is growing evidence that their application within the same wellbore has the potential to create conflicting ideals. The StressCage application is associated with the plugging of small fractures which have been induced in the wellbore wall, thereby increasing the effective fracture gradient, which allows for the drilling of substantial depletion. However, the presence of a range of widely distributed particle sizes in the mud system, as well as increased general solids loading, may result in deep and invasive plugging of the permeable formations and any smaller fractures within the same open-hole sections. When these plugged formations are then the target for subsequent fracturing operations, there is a significant potential to create near wellbore problems that complicate or bring into question the ability to install a frac-pack completion.This paper will provide a number of examples of the application of StressCage, where resulting frac operations appear to have been hampered or complicated by the use of the StressCage approach and/or associated mud conditions. These examples will provide some evidence of such interactions but, more importantly, demonstrate the contradiction that these two techniques potentially represent. The paper will also outline a scenario resulting from a sand-control lower completion assembly in place, in a new borehole drilled with StressCage method, that could be resistant to any form of frac breakdown (or simple mechanical intervention), and, thereby, compromise the frac and well completion itself.In addition to the case histories, the paper will outline various engineering approaches that should be considered, including geo-mechanical analysis of well placement, identification of near wellbore issues prior to and during the fracturing operations, careful management of stress caged solids makeup, mud management and frac-pack design in order to avoid or overcome such challenges. All of this helps ensure that we do not create the paradox of being able to drill through the undrillable but then creating the unfraccable as a result.

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Section: Frac-pack Technologymentioning

confidence: 99%

StressCage and Frac Pack: Drilling the Conventionally Undrillable Without Creating the Unfraccable

Rylance

Mahadev

2016

Day 4 Thu, May 05, 2016

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Successful Exploitation of Heterogeneous Unconsolidated Clastic Gas Reservoirs in Saudi Arabia: Case Histories

Alali

Al-Anazi

Aziz

2015

SPE Middle East Oil &Amp; Gas Show and Conference

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Novel Mechanistic Modeling of Cased-Hole Fracpack (CHFP) Well Productivity with Non-Darcy Effects and Fracture-Plane Alignment

Angeles

Yin

Hecker

et al. 2015

SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition

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Cased-hole fracpacks (CHFP) can deliver high-rate, low-skin completions by creating a highly conductive fracture that extends beyond the perforation tunnels, bypassing near wellbore damage and preventing formation sand production. While the industry has a long history of successful CHFP applications, well performance prediction for this type of completions has remained challenged by complex geometrical (fracture geometry and orientation with respect to arbitrarily deviated wellbores) and multi-physics factors (multiphase flow, turbulence). Most fracpack modeling tools are limited to analytical and simplified reservoir simulation models, which can lead to poor accuracy in quantifying near-wellbore effects, such as non-Darcy pressure drop, particularly important for high-rate gas wells. In this paper, we propose a new mechanistic approach to incorporate the cased-hole fracpack completion with non-Darcy flow through explicitly meshed perforation tunnels, fractures and rock formation in real dimensions. The fracture is modeled by Enriched Finite Element Method (EFEM), which flexibly accounts for arbitrary fracture geometry and orientation while enabling multi-physics effects, impact of perforation/gravel packing damage and perforation-fracture communication uncertainty on deviated well productivities. The proposed approach is validated using (1) analytical and numerical models, and (2) two Gulf of Mexico (GOM) CHFP wells, one vertical and one deviated; where skins measured from step-rate tests were history-matched to longitudinal and transverse fracture models. We also introduce the concept of fracture neighborhood width to account for perforation performance relative to its alignment with fracture opening and orientation. Finally, the new approach is used to predict the deliverability of a high-rate, high-pressure gas condensate well. Non-Darcy effects, condensate banking effects, perforation gravel packing, and geological model uncertainties are included in predicting the well production.

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Frac Pack Completion Scorecard: The Importance of Scoring High

Cited by 9 publications

References 9 publications

StressCage and Frac Pack: Drilling the Conventionally Undrillable Without Creating the Unfraccable

StressCage and Frac Pack: Drilling the Conventionally Undrillable Without Creating the Unfraccable

Successful Exploitation of Heterogeneous Unconsolidated Clastic Gas Reservoirs in Saudi Arabia: Case Histories

Novel Mechanistic Modeling of Cased-Hole Fracpack (CHFP) Well Productivity with Non-Darcy Effects and Fracture-Plane Alignment

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