Development of a Stranded Tight Gas Field in the UK Southern North Sea Using Hydraulic Fracturing Within a Subsea Horizontal Well: A Case Study

Langford, Marc; Westera, George Douglas; Holland, Brian; Bocaneala, Bogdan; Norris, Mark Robert

doi:10.2118/170852-ms

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Resin-coated proppant removed the problem of produced proppant that existed in the early days of fracturing and gave operators the confidence to hydraulically fracture subsea wells (Langford et al 2014). This stands as a proof of the effectiveness of resin-coated proppant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Tight reservoirs, distant infrastructure, small volumes, and anomalous gas qualities are amongst the main reasons why these resources have not yet been developed. One of these stranded tight gas fields has been successfully developed with the use of a subsea well, horizontal drilling, and hydraulic fracturing (Langford et al 2014).…”

Section: Case Study 1: Development Of a Stranded Tight Gas Field In Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the North Sea, the first fracturing treatments were introduced in the mid-1960s, and since then the technology has evolved from a skin bypass technique to a reservoir development tool (Langford et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Evolution of Completion Practices and Reservoir Stimulation Techniques in the North Sea

Bocaneala

Barrett²,

Holland

et al. 2015

All Days

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The objective of this paper is to collate and share with the industry the technical knowledge on hydraulic fracturing and related completion practices accumulated from both operating and service companies throughout the North Sea. We will follow the evolution of completion technologies and hydraulic fracturing techniques from the early 1980s, when hydraulic fracturing offshore was in its infancy, to present-day modern practices. Although the North Sea hydrocarbon production has been in decline for the last 15 years, technologies exist that can improve production and transform resources into reserves in reservoirs previously believed uneconomic. Horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing are two complementary technologies that, when combined, can reduce, halt, or even reverse this declining trend. The first hydraulic fracturing treatment in the North Sea was conducted over 40 years ago; since then, the stimulation techniques and completion technologies have advanced significantly. Throughout the years, there have been several milestones in the evolution of stimulated well completions, with the most significant being the transition from single-stage fracturing of vertical wells to multistage fracturing of horizontal wells in the drive for ever-greater reservoir contact. Recently, this combination of technologies made possible the development of small stranded fields otherwise considered noncommercial. The introduction of resin-coated proppants to minimize solids flowback, the evolution of fracturing fluids to meet the stringent environmental regulations, and the introduction of dedicated multistage completions to increase operational efficiency are further enabling innovations discussed in this paper. The latest advances such as proppant channel placement within the fracture, dissolvable completion equipment, and environmentally friendly seawater-based fracturing fluids, have already been introduced and promise significant future improvements to production and the completion cycle efficiency. The North Sea has been, and remains, at the forefront of safety, environmental awareness, and leading technology within the oil and gas industry. This paper reviews the historic evolution of hydraulic fracturing and well completions with the aim to create a clearer vision of the future by building on the past. Through this, we hope to inspire the new generation to find innovative solutions and continue the long history of hydrocarbon production in the North Sea.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Case Study 1: Development Of a Stranded Tight Gas Field In Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Evolution of Completion Practices and Reservoir Stimulation Techniques in the North Sea

Bocaneala

Barrett²,

Holland

et al. 2015

All Days

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“…In recent years, the hydraulic fracturing techniques have been further improved (Langford, et al, 2014), (Shaoul, et al, 2013), (Schrama, et al, 2011), (Vos, et al, 2009) and new technology has been introduced such as new proppant technology, seawater frac fluid and horizontal multifrac completion (Langford, et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical Workflow for Offshore Hydraulic Fracturing Modelling: Focusing on Southern North Sea

et al. 2015

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The high prices of energy encourage investments in oil and gas research and development leading to new or improved technologies to recover more hydrocarbons from resources and re-evaluate the reserves. As a result of such technological developments and experience of job practices, hydraulic fracturing techniques have improved significantly in terms of designing and execution and this, at the same time, has made the process much more complicated. This paper suggests a practical multi-disciplinary workflow for hydraulic fracturing modelling mainly in tight gas sandstone reservoirs.Hydraulic fracturing stimulations in costly environments such as the Southern North Sea require deeper insight into the chemistry and mechanics of the process, characteristics of the formation, and most importantly, the interactions during and after the stimulation job. Different sources of information and analysis such as seismic, reservoir static modelling, initial geomechanical modelling, initial hydraulic fracturing study, fracture initiation point analysis, 1-dimensional (vertical) stress modelling per frac, mini-frac, mainfrac, flowback analysis, well test analysis, and reservoir dynamic modelling are discussed in this paper. The key data cross checks are recognised and lessons learnt from industry are also incorporated to highlight the possible outcomes of different decisions.Having more information, particularly from different disciplines, can be more productive only if a comprehensive guideline explains the essential elements of the required studies and illustrates their interrelations. This workflow has been the reference of a validated study for a multi-fracced tight gas sandstone reservoir in the Southern North Sea. The workflow has been deployed to organise and recognise the key elements that control the performance of hydraulically fractured wells in a heterogeneous environment. From the workflow, a thorough examination and analysis of available data were performed and fed into the static and dynamic models. As a result of the integrated workflow, a better understanding of the reservoir was formed and potential upside opportunities became visible.This paper highlights the importance of integrated multi-disciplinary workflow required to detect, characterise and evaluate information from the field into a product that can be used to better understand hydraulic fracturing and tight gas sandstone reservoirs.

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Successful Execution and Analysis of a Multistage Frac Treatment in a Horizontal Gas Well in the Grove Field, UK Southern North Sea

et al. 2016

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The Grove field is located in the Southern North Sea and has been in production since 2007. The Grove A well lies within block 49/10a and was originally planned by Centrica as an infill well, drilled horizontally in the central fault compartment of the Grove field structure. The well targeted the relatively undepleted basal "A" sandstone unit of the Late Carboniferous, Westphalian reservoir, also known as the Barren Red Measures (BRM). The well objectives were to 1) target the Grove A sand from the G1 "donor" well, 2) establish a suitable completion strategy for field development, 3) assess the performance of a multiple stage (four to five) hydraulically fractured horizontal well, 4) acquire sufficient log data to fully evaluate the reservoir, and 5) acquire reliable permeability and reservoir pressure measurements to assist in reservoir simulation. The A sand reservoir unit has a porosity of approximately 10% and permeability between 0.05 to 1 md, with a reservoir with true vertical thickness (TVT) of approximately 140 ft at the heel and 40 ft at the toe. The reservoir unit is poorly drained by the other wells, and the Grove infill well is the first horizontal gas well in the field to be stimulated by means of multistage hydraulic proppant fracturing. The hydraulic fracturing treatment used sand plug isolation to separate consecutive fracture stages, and the fracture stimulation operations were performed with the rig in place by means of a converted stimulation vessel. The stimulation treatments successfully used a modified sand plug methodology that employed aggressive breaker schedules and fluid injections rates that were determined to be more efficient than previous treatments based on employing strict "sand plug setting" criteria. The findings are presented, as well as analyses of both prefracturing and fracturing data for the treatments together with results of the well post-completion and hook-up production. This work should be of interest to offshore operators world-wide performing multiple hydraulic fractures in both horizontal and vertical wells using sand plug isolation technology.

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Development of a Stranded Tight Gas Field in the UK Southern North Sea Using Hydraulic Fracturing Within a Subsea Horizontal Well: A Case Study

Cited by 9 publications

References 3 publications

The Evolution of Completion Practices and Reservoir Stimulation Techniques in the North Sea

The Evolution of Completion Practices and Reservoir Stimulation Techniques in the North Sea

A Practical Workflow for Offshore Hydraulic Fracturing Modelling: Focusing on Southern North Sea

Successful Execution and Analysis of a Multistage Frac Treatment in a Horizontal Gas Well in the Grove Field, UK Southern North Sea

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