非常规/复杂油藏

工程师和高管一致认为 hale 科学项目是值得的

从重复压裂旧井到根本不需要压裂的井,著名生产商认为实验正在取得成效。

地下深处的竖井内。
盖蒂图片社。

这是科学项目对页岩行业影响的见证,拉开了在休斯顿地区举行的第 15 届年度 SPE 水力压裂技术会议暨展览会 (HFTC) 的序幕。

当技术专家和高管聚集在一起时,他们讨论了经过多年的地下研究,过去的信念如何被消除,新的知识如何转化为数百万至数十亿美元的商业决策。

在会议的全体会议上,与会者从戴文能源公司了解了该石油公司为何成为重复压裂领域的拥护者,以及它对最近一次收购的影响,该收购使该公司在 Eagle Ford 页岩中的地位翻了一番

巴肯页岩生产商赫斯公司 (Hess Corp.) 将十多年的工作与其利用其他井的裂缝生产石油的实验井联系起来,尽管在行业合作方面面临障碍,但仍致力于开发自动化压裂技术。

SM Energy 还展示了双小型压裂测试,作为新实验的一个例子,指导其在德克萨斯州南部发现的 Eagle Ford 和 Austin Chalk 地层中的非常规策略。

仔细看看他们所说的内容就在这里。

押注重复压裂

SPE 212340中,Devon 提供了有关 Eagle Ford 页岩大型重复压裂研究的最新细节,该研究促使其去年决定斥资 18 亿美元收购德克萨斯州南部油田。

它涉及最初于 2013 年增产的两口母井,然后于 2022 年 1 月再次压裂。因此,Devon 报告称,每口井的预计最终采收率 (EUR) 分别飙升了 27% 和 46%。这些井的日产量约为 20 至 25 B,根据论文中共享的数据,其中至少有一口井在重复压裂后的几周内日产量超过 1,000 B。

考特尼·布林克利 (Kourtney Brinkley) 将恢复推进描述为“重大一步变化”,帮助公司实现了“在前进过程中将重新竣工纳入我们的开发计划的必要性”。

帮助领导 Devon 项目的钻井和完井工程师报告称,该运营商在该区域实施更广泛的重复压裂计划,导致欧元增量高达 75%,平均增幅约为 50%。这些数字转化为 97% 至 220% 的回报率,她说这使得它们成为“非常经济的项目”。

Devon Energy 的钻井和完井工程师 Kourtney Brinkley 在今年的 SPE 水力压裂技术会议和展览会上发表讲话。
Devon Energy 的钻井和完井工程师 Kourtney Brinkley 在今年的 SPE 水力压裂技术会议和展览会上发表讲话。
资料来源:SPE。

布林克利在会议上概述的项目属于美国能源部 (DOE) 水力压裂试验场计划。在联邦资金的帮助下,德文郡能够部署一系列令人羡慕的诊断工具。

钻了一个观察支管,以监测重复压裂以及平台上的新完井情况。从观测井中取出了约 420 英尺的岩心,以捕获平台母井裂缝系统的一些情况。

该诊断套件包括多个光纤装置、密封井筒压力监测、井下压力表、超声波成像等。

借助这套罕见的技术,德文郡能够准确地了解最初的母体完井情况有多差,同时后来看到其折射设计最终的效果如何。

首先是母岩心穿透,显示虽然平均每 10 英尺就有一个水力裂缝,但支撑裂缝的数量仅占发现总数的 8%。

超声波成像对齐,显示初始完成设计的集群效率仅为 19%。

二次压裂后,这个数字增加到 80% 以上,这对 Devon 来说意味着今天有更多的支撑裂缝。

布林克利在指出显示裂缝形成的生动纤维数据时说,“我们不仅仅需要重新扩张母体[裂缝]网络,将其打开一段时间,然后看着它消亡”,我们就是这样地面上出现了新的裂缝。”

该瀑布图取自水力压裂测试现场,显示了在最近重复压裂操作的单个阶段中记录的声纤维数据。
该瀑布图取自水力压裂测试现场,显示了在最近重复压裂操作的单个阶段中记录的声纤维数据。从监测井观察,单个新裂缝到达的可能特征与下面被评估为母体裂缝重新激活的较弱特征形成鲜明对比。
资料来源:德文能源/SPE 212340。

该项目被认为是俄克拉荷马城运营商的一项突破,大约十年前进入 Eagle Ford 后,随着新井位置逐年减少,该公司面临着不可避免的困境。

德文郡中大陆和德克萨斯州南部开发部副总裁亚伦·凯特 (Aaron Ketter) 将这一问题描述为“如何延长跑道”之一,并乐观地表示,折射至少是答案之一。

“通过这项研究,我们发现我们并没有像我们最初想象的那样有效地消耗井眼。

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Unconventional/complex reservoirs

Engineers and Execs Agree—Shale Science Projects Are Worth It

From refracturing old wells to ones that don’t have to be fractured at all, notable producers argue that experiments are paying off.

Deep underground inside a shaft.
Getty Images.

It was a testimony to the impact science projects have had on the shale sector that kicked off the 15th Annual SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition (HFTC) held in the Houston area.

When the technical experts and executives gathered, they discussed how, after years of subsurface study, past beliefs have been dispelled and new learnings translated into multimillion- to billion-dollar business decisions.

At the conference’s plenary session, attendees learned from Devon Energy about why the oil company has become a vocal champion of refracturing and the influence it had on a recent acquisition that doubled its position in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Bakken Shale producer Hess Corp. tied more than a decade of work to its experimental wells that use fractures from other wells to produce oil, as well as its commitment to developing automated fracturing despite facing obstacles in industry collaboration.

SM Energy also showcased a double minifrac test as an example of the new experiments guiding its unconventional strategy in the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk formations found in south Texas.

A closer look at what they had to say is here.

Betting Big on Refracturing

In SPE 212340, Devon offered fresh details on its big refracturing study in the Eagle Ford Shale—one that played into its decision to spend $1.8 billion last year on an acquisition in the south Texas play.

It involved two parent wells originally stimulated in 2013 and then refractured in January 2022. As a result, Devon reports the respective estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) from each well soared by 27% and 46%. These are wells that had been producing about 20 to 25 B/D, and according to data shared in the paper, at least one of them topped 1,000 B/D in the weeks following the refracturing.

Kourtney Brinkley described the recovery boost as a “significant step change” that helped the company realize a “need to incorporate recompletions into our development plans as we go forward.”

The drilling and completions engineer who helped lead the project for Devon reported that the operator’s wider refrac program in the play has seen incremental EUR increases as high as 75% with the average being at around 50%. The figures translate to a rate of return between 97 to 220%, which she said makes them “very economic projects.”

Kourtney Brinkley, a drilling and completions engineer for Devon Energy, speaking at this year’s SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition.
Kourtney Brinkley, a drilling and completions engineer for Devon Energy, speaking at this year’s SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition.
Source: SPE.

The project Brinkley outlined at the conference fell under the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) hydraulic fracturing test site program. With the help of federal funding, Devon was able to deploy an enviable array of diagnostic tools.

An observation lateral was drilled to monitor refracturing along with new completions on the pad. About 420 ft of core was taken from the observation well to capture some of the pad’s parent well fracture system.

The diagnostic kit included multiple fiber-optic installations, sealed wellbore pressure monitoring, downhole pressure gauges, ultrasonic imaging, and more.

With this rare suite of technologies, Devon was able to learn exactly how poor the initial parent completions were while later seeing just how effective its refrac designs ended up being.

First came the parent core-through that showed while a hydraulic fracture was present every 10 ft on average, the number of propped fractures represented just 8% of the total found.

Ultrasonic imaging aligned, showing initial completion design netted a cluster efficiency rate of just 19%.

Post-refrac, that number was increased to over 80%, which implies to Devon that there are a good degree more propped fractures today.

While pointing to vivid fiber data showing fracture formation, Brinkley said, “We were not just necessarily re-dilating a parent [fracture] network, popping it open for a little bit of time, and then watching it die—what we were making was new fractures in the ground.”

Captured from a hydraulic fracture test site, this waterfall plot shows acoustic fiber data recorded during a single stage of a recent refracturing operation.
Captured from a hydraulic fracture test site, this waterfall plot shows acoustic fiber data recorded during a single stage of a recent refracturing operation. As viewed from a monitor well, the likely signature of a single new fracture arriving stands in contrast to the weaker signatures below that were assessed to be reactivation of parent fractures.
Source: Devon Energy/SPE 212340.

The project is considered a breakthrough by the Oklahoma City-based operator which, after entering the Eagle Ford about a decade ago, is facing the inevitable dilemma of what to do as new well locations grow scarcer with each passing year.

Aaron Ketter, vice president of Devon’s mid-continent and south Texas developments, characterized the problem as one of “how to elongate the runway,” and conveyed optimism that refracs are at least one of the answers.

“We saw that we were not depleting the wellbore as efficiently as we initially thought through this research.

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