The Eagle Ford Shale, as one of the most active unconventional reservoirs in the US, began heavy development in 2009. One of the attractive aspects of the Eagle Ford, which has heightened interest and helped to accelerate development, is substantial liquids production, along with solution gas. However the resultant multiphase fluid production, along with reservoir heterogeneity that is typical of most unconventional reservoirs, adds complexity and risk to development, especially for completions.One technique that has the potential for reducing risk is learning from historical completion trends. Even though the Eagle Ford play is quite new, more than 4,000 horizontal wells have been drilled and all have been hydraulically fractured. The resultant large and growing data resource invites data mining to uncover trends and insights.The ground work for this case study was laid first in SPE 149258 (2011) and then in SPE 158501 (2012). This last paper summarized production, completion techniques and hydraulic fracturing stages performed in 57 Eagle Ford wells. Since the previous papers, many new wells have been completed, considerably expanding the data available for analysis. Completion volumes, well architecture and reservoir character are analyzed. The entire data set is mapped in an effort to understand anomalies and trends. As the successful development of this reservoir has relied in the combination of horizontal drilling, multistage completions and hydraulic fracturing, the results should be valuable for understanding and optimizing completions in the Eagle Ford and similar shales.
The Eagle Ford Shale, as one of the most active unconventional reservoirs in the US, began heavy development in 2009. One of the attractive aspects of the Eagle Ford, which has heightened interest and helped to accelerate development, is substantial liquids production, along with solution gas. But the resultant multiphase fluid production, along with reservoir heterogeneity, typical of most unconventional reservoirs, adds complexity and risk to development, especially for the completion. One technique that has the potential for reducing risk is learning from historical completion trends. Even though the Eagle Ford play is quite new, more than 3,000 horizontal wells have been drilled and all have been hydraulically fractured. The resultant large and growing data resource invites data mining to uncover trends and insights. The ground work was laid in SPE 149258, which summarized 1,082 fracturing stages in 80 Eagle Ford well. This paper extends that analysis to more than 3,000 Eagle Ford fracturing stages in more than 200 wells. Metrics of completion types, volumes, and efficiencies are analyzed. In addition, the analysis is extended to production data and chemical fracturing additives. The entire data set is mapped in an effort to understand anomalies and trends. As the successful development of this reservoir has relied in the combination of horizontal drilling, multistage completions and hydraulic fracturing, the results should be valuable for understanding and optimizing completions in the Eagle Ford and similar shales.
The Eagle Ford Shale is a hydrocarbon-producing formation, located in the state of Texas, and it is a discovery type called unconventional shale oil and gas. Eagle Ford Shale is considered a recent discovery because the drilling and completion activities began significantly only around 2009. The main difference between this and other formations of the same type is its ability to produce gas and liquid hydrocarbon. For many reasons, including its high mineralogical heterogeneity, uncertainty about its development is present, and the associated risk of efficient well construction and completion is considered high. This paper summarizes the information for about approximately 1,000 hydraulic fracturing stages performed in the Eagle Ford shale formation and documents a data-mining study of well, multistage hydraulic fracture treatments, production parameters and completion techniques. A Geographical Information System (GIS) pattern-recognition technique was used to map and plot well data. This work took advantage of a large and rich well and production data set available from the Eagle Ford Shale, which was associated with each well completed in this area. As the successful development of this reservoir has relied in the combination of horizontal drilling, multistage completions and innovative hydraulic fracturing, the results and conclusions found here can be applied as a part of an overall optimization on each stage of the completion process in this area. The conclusions of this paper lead us to actual and hidden trends in the multistage hydraulic fracturing techniques applied here as well as the completion steps. They also identify parameters that can impact and improve understanding of these processes.
In horizontal tight and unconventional reservoirs there is currently a lack of low-cost/low risk data that could be used for optimizing completions and hydraulic fracturing designs. The objective for optimizing completion and frac designs is to achieve more consistent stimulation and production from every stage in the lateral. Most wells are completed based on geometric stage lengths and cluster spacings. Evidence is beginning to suggest that using geometric frac stage lengths does not provide consistent production from each perf cluster within a particular stage.Traditionally, unconventional lateral well completion planning uses mostly vertical pilot-hole wireline log data where available. The resulting rock and reservoir characterization is projected along the entire length of the lateral. This methodology does not account for reservoir/mineralogical heterogeneities that can adversely affect stimulation efficiencies for each stage and ultimately, production. By properly characterizing the lateral, the completion design can be optimized with strategic staging and cluster selection that should result in a more consistent production from every perf cluster in each stage. This paper demonstrates a process for correlating mineralogical and textural formation properties from drill cuttings with data from the pilot-hole (including wireline, mud-logging and drilling data and any available core data) with drilling and mud-logging data from the lateral. This process improves lateral well characterization in real time and provides the basis for an optimal completion design. This paper will illustrate the process using currently available data.
TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractFor several decades, the most commonly used hydraulic fracturing fluids have been water based, and used a variety of different polymers. The effects of such fluids on formations, and even on the frac pack as such, have constituted the basis for several papers and discussions. Several of these discussions were focused mainly on the efforts devoted to the optimization of the interaction between the frac fluid and the formation. Among others, the probable polymer damage brought about by the frac fluid is one of the most frequently discussed topics. Undoubtedly, the use of a polymer-free frac fluid, surfactant based with viscous-elastic (VES) properties, has been one of the most attractive topics for Pemex E&P within its application program of new technologies. The present document includes a detailed explanation of the properties of this fluid, including the description of its mechanism for the generation of viscous-elastic properties and the breakage thereof, as well as its general chemistry. In addition, the application of these kinds of fluids had been contemplated within PEMEX E&P´s plans, to be used in Chicontepec basin. This formation is regarded as heterogeneous and highly complex. The only way to produce the wells at economically acceptable levels is through the technique of hydraulic fracturing. The first work done with this technology was carried out during 2005, and it was deemed a success by the producing company. The description of the well, in which the fluid was used, together with all of the relevant information thereof, has been included in the present document. An assessment of the early production and well response was carried out through a nodal analysis and a simulator of the responses related to production rates, both linked to a fracturing simulator. These too will be discussed in this paper.
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