Completions and Stimulation Experimental Design, Execution, Analysis &amp; Application for the Permian Delaware Basin Hydraulic Fracture Test Site 2

Huckabee, Paul; Ugueto, Gustavo; Haustveit, Kyle; Wojtaszek, Magdalena; Mondal, Somnath; Ledet, Chris; Daredia, Talib; Reynolds, Alan

doi:10.2118/209172-ms

Cited by 9 publications

References 10 publications

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Evaluating Stimulation Effectiveness with Permanent Optical Fiber and Sealed Wellbore Pressure Monitoring: Bakken Shale Case Study

Cipolla

McKimmy

Hari-Roy

et al. 2022

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

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Summary In 2019, the operator embarked on a data acquisition project in the Bakken, an unconventional shale play in the USA, with the goal of mapping far-field drainage and characterizing completion performance. The project consisted of a six-well pad (10,000-ft laterals) with a dedicated observation lateral located in the Three Forks formation instrumented with cemented pressure gauges and external optical fiber along the 10,000-ft lateral. The observation lateral was offset by Middle Bakken (MB) wells ~450 ft on either side (~900-ft MB-MB well spacing). One of the offset MB wells was instrumented with external optical fiber for cluster-level completion measurements and fracture hit detection. Characterizing hydraulic fracture geometry is critical to improving completion designs and optimizing well spacing. Until recently, microseismic has been the primary diagnostic for estimating “bulk” or stage-level fracture geometry (Warpinski 2009) and parent-child interactions for modern multicluster plug-and-perf completions (Cipolla et al. 2018). However, microseismic cannot provide details on individual fractures or cluster-level measurements. With the continued advances in fiber-optic technologies, we can measure cluster-level fracture behavior at the wellbore and in the far field (Ugueto et al. 2016, 2019). Characterizing the relationship between wellbore and far-field fracture geometry, referred to as fracture morphology, is important when simultaneously optimizing completion design and well spacing. Microseismic and fiber optics are very robust, but expensive, technologies, and this limits the frequency of their application. The recent introduction of sealed wellbore pressure monitoring (SWPM) enables lower-cost, higher-volume data acquisition but may not provide the same level of detail compared with microseismic and fiber-optic measurements. This paper presents a case history that details the application of permanent fiber optics and SWPM to characterize fracture geometry and morphology using distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) for near-wellbore (NWB) measurements along with SWPM and crosswell strain for far-field investigation. This is the first example of both NWB and far-field optical fiber measurements being used to evaluate cluster efficiency in conjunction with SWPM. The SWPM results compared favorably with the fiber measurements; stages with more uniform distribution based on the NWB DAS data also had higher volume to first responses (VFRs) measured using crosswell strain and SWPM.

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Evaluating Stimulation Effectiveness with Permanent Optical Fiber and Sealed Wellbore Pressure Monitoring: Bakken Shale Case Study

Cipolla

McKimmy

Hari-Roy

et al. 2022

SPE Drilling &Amp; Completion

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Design and Implementation of Field Tests in Unconventional Reservoirs: Practical Perspectives

McClure¹,

Albrecht²,

Cipolla

et al. 2022

Day 1 Mon, October 03, 2022

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Optimizing the development of unconventional resources is a complex process, with significant uncertainty in reservoir characterization, completion effectiveness, and drainage efficiency. The primary parameters in the optimization are: stage length, cluster spacing, fluid type and volume, proppant type and loading, well spacing, landing zone(s), and lateral length. To improve over time, operators: evaluate alternatives, trial new designs, evaluate results, and iterate. This paper provides perspectives from industry practitioners on this process. It discusses: (a) defining objectives, (b) integrating information, (c) evaluating alternatives, (d) designing field trials, (e) evaluating outcomes, and (f) maximizing the value of field trials with diagnostic data collection.

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Modeling Case Study: Optimizing Multicluster Stimulation Uniformity in Horizontal Wells

Kresse

Sinkov

Hobbs

2023

Day 2 Wed, February 01, 2023

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The performance and completion efficiency of horizontal multistage hydraulically fractured wells stimulated using the plug-and-perf technique are affected by the uniformity of the multiple perforation cluster treatment. Depending on reservoir heterogeneity, perforation design, and pumping schedule, uneven distribution of fluid and proppant among fractures connected to different perforation clusters can be defined by wellbore proppant transport hydrodynamics, fracture propagation mechanics, or a complex interplay of both. A modeling case study exploring strategies to mitigate nonuniformity of cluster stimulation is presented. Approaches to perforation and treatment optimization are chosen based on consideration of reservoir properties and their heterogeneity. A numerical model coupling a recently developed wellbore flow simulator and an advanced fracture simulator enables comprehensive simulations including both realistic fracture and wellbore modeling for complex perforation designs, treatment schedules, and distributions of reservoir inhomogeneities. The wellbore simulator considers proppant transport and settling, fluid rheology, perforation erosion, rate- and concentration-dependent pressure drop, and variable efficiency of proppant transport to perforations. The fracture simulator models fracture growth, fluid flow, proppant transport inside fractures, and interaction between fracture branches due to stress shadow effect. The interaction between hydraulic and pre-existing natural fractures plays a critical role during fracturing treatments in formations with pre-existing discrete fracture network (DFN). The model considers the effect of formation heterogeneity on fracture propagation, arrest of hydraulic fractures, crossing and opening of natural fractures depending on their properties, fluid viscosity, rate, and stress conditions. Several approaches for optimization of proppant distribution are suggested for cases showing nonperfect proppant transport efficiency caused by high proppant grain inertia. Tapered perforation designs enable achieving more even proppant distribution. However, perforation distribution among clusters providing best stimulation uniformity is sensitive to uncertainties in characterization and heterogeneity of reservoir and discrete fracture network properties. A combination of tapered perforation design and the suppression of inertial effects by increasing carrier fluid viscosity is more robust with respect to reservoir properties variation.

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Completions and Stimulation Experimental Design, Execution, Analysis & Application for the Permian Delaware Basin Hydraulic Fracture Test Site 2

Cited by 9 publications

References 10 publications

Evaluating Stimulation Effectiveness with Permanent Optical Fiber and Sealed Wellbore Pressure Monitoring: Bakken Shale Case Study

Evaluating Stimulation Effectiveness with Permanent Optical Fiber and Sealed Wellbore Pressure Monitoring: Bakken Shale Case Study

Design and Implementation of Field Tests in Unconventional Reservoirs: Practical Perspectives

Modeling Case Study: Optimizing Multicluster Stimulation Uniformity in Horizontal Wells

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