Hydraulic Fracturing of Horizontal Wells

- Realizing the Paradigm Shift that

has been 30 years in Development

Dr. C. Mark Pearson

Liberty Resources LLC

Society of Petroleum Engineers

Distinguished Lecturer Program
www.spe.org/dl
2
 Key Technologies
Horizontal Wells and Hydraulic
Fracturing both stand as separate
technologies that have had a
significant impact on the petroleum
industry and our ability to develop
hydrocarbon resources.
The combination of the two
technologies have resulted in an
industry revolution:
- 24000 references to
Horizontal Well Fracturing in
the SPE/One Petro
Database
- Over 60% of US drilling
activity is drilling horizontal
wells
- In 2011, Pressure Pumping
Services became the
largest single business
segment in the Oilfield 3
Services arena.
Outline

Early Studies and Fracturing of Horizontal Wells

Current Multi-Stage Completion Designs:

- Cemented Vs Uncemented Liner / Casing
- Plug and Perf Vs Sliding Sleeve

Bakken Shale Central Basin Development

Current Developments / Changes in Completion Practices

Conclusions

4
 Horizontal Well Drilling

The first recorded horizontal well was in Texon, Texas in 1929

and another in the Franklin Heavy Oil Field, Pennsylvania in
1944.
Short radius wells were tested by ARCO in 1979-1982 in the
Empire Abo Field, New Mexico.
Offshore platforms and remote land locations (e.g. Alaska)
required the development of directional drilling technology:
Downhole motors
Measurement While Drilling
Steerable assemblies
Logging While Drilling
First Medium Radius Horizontal Well was drilled in the Austin
Chalk in May 1985 by ARCO the John G. Hubbard #1 in
Rockwall, Texas; a 1500ft lateral with a 20/100ft build rate.

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Early Application of Horizontal Wells (1980s)

To handle reservoir issues in some developments that were

already using deviated wells gas coning problems,
unconsolidated formations, thin sands development.
Opportunity to more effectively develop naturally fractured
reservoirs e.g. the Austin Chalk
By the late-1980s industry was already testing the
opportunity to combine the technologies of horizontal drilling
and hydraulic fracturing
Modern horizontal well drilling came of age at the end of the
1980s:
257 horizontal well permits issued in the USA in 1989
Over 1000 permits in 1990.
API started tracking horizontal drilling in 1991

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 Reservoir Contact from Fracturing Vertical Well

h = 50 ft.
Formation
thickness

Lf = 500 ft.
Fracture Half-Length

Openhole completion: 8 hole diameter * 50 ft = 115 ft2 of contact

Cased hole completion: 4 spf, with 2 ft. penetration beyond cement

200 perf tunnels, inch diameter = 52 ft2 of contact

Fracture Stimulated Completion: 500 ft half-length

2 wings * 2 faces * 500 ft * 50 ft = 100,000 ft2 of contact
Hydraulic Fracturing can increase reservoir contact in a
vertical well by ~1,000 fold!
 Reservoir Contact from Fracturing Horizontal Well

h = 50 ft.
Formation
thickness

Lf = 500 ft.
Stimulated Reservoir Volume Fracture Half-Length

Openhole completion: 6 hole diameter * 50 ft = 7850 ft2 of contact

Cased hole completion: 1 spf, with 2 ft. penetration beyond cement

5000 perf tunnels, inch diameter = 1310 ft2 of contact

Fracture Stimulated Completion: 500 ft half-length

20 Stages * 2 wings * 2 faces * 500 ft * 50 ft = 2,000,000 ft2 of contact
Horizontal Well Hydraulic Fracturing increases Reservoir Contactarea
reservoir contact Area
>10,000 fold over a conventional vertical well !
 The Resource Triangle

9
Source: Wood Mackenzie
 1983 Gulf R&D Study on Horizontal Wells

Significant potential for

increasing production
3
rates and EUR by fracture
(MMscf/day)

stimulating a horizontal
well in a tight gas sand

Completion Problems:
- Casing Centralization
- Cement Displacement
0.3

Stimulation Issues:
- Fracture Re-Orientation
- Fracture Extension / Growth

0.03

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 1980s Completion Design

Primary application to fractured carbonate

reservoirs

Acid stimulation bull headed into the lateral

with a similar design to a vertical well acid
treatment using diverter stages in an attempt to
maximize contact area

Attempts to pump propped fracture treatments

took a similar approach

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Early Multi-Stage Hydraulic Fractured Well

Treatment Design:

}
Pad
1 ppa
2 ppa
3 ppa x10
5 ppa
6 ppa
Diverter

Courtesy of ARCO Oil & Gas \ Ahmed Abou-Sayed

W M Schrock (26) #8 Fractured July 7th 1987 12

Late 1980s/90s Dan Field Redevelopment
PRODUCTION
Danish North Sea; SPE 25049 (1992)
RATE (BOPD)

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14
1990s Emergence of Zonal Isolation Technology

Fully cemented liners

Separate perforated intervals
Temporary Wellbore Plugs
Sand
Gel
External Casing Packers:
Hydraulic inflated packer ran on the outside of
the casing
Typically set with either drilling mud or cement.

15
Kuparuk River Field, Alaska
SPE 36454 (1996)
Kuparuk: Use of Longitudinally Fractured Wells

17
Kuparuk: Use of Longitudinally Fractured Wells

Well # 1R-21 3R19 2M-07 2M-29

Horizontal Section (ft) 709 1000 1850 2059

Drill, Case & Equip. Cost (Million $) 1.7 1.6 1.5 3.0

Stimulation Cost (Million $) 1.5 1.6 2.5 2.2

Total Well Cost (Million $) 3.2 3.2 4.0 5.2

18
Courtesy of: ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. (Unit Operator), BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Chevron U.S.A. Inc., ExxonMobil Alaska Production, Inc.
 Valhall Field Development
Norwegian North Sea; SPE 84392 (2003)

North
Flank
Platform

NOR W AY

ST AVANGER

Crestal
Platform
VALHALL
s (WP,
HOD
DENMARK DP & IP)

UNITED GERMANY
KINGDOM
0 100 km
South
Flank
Platform

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 Valhall Field HFHW Development Results
Comparison of Acid and Proppant Fracturing

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Late 1990s Horizontal Well Completion Options

1. Openhole barefoot completion no

stimulation or single stage acid

2. Uncemented slotted or pre-perforated liner

with a single stage acid or frac treatment
(with or without diverting materials).

3. Cemented liner / casing multi-stage

perforating with gel or solid plugs allowing
multi-stage fracturing

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Late 1990s Composite Plug Development

Wireline run below perforating tools

Standard equipment for 4-1/2 and 5-

1/2 liners

Up to 12,500 psi differential pressure

rating

Easily drilled out using either a

workover rig or coiled tubing

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 Typical Gas Shale Cemented Liner
Completion

KISS principle of Completion Design

(Keep It Simple Stupid)

Use of Plug and Perf completion technique

Multiple (10 to 15) Completion Stages per well

Relatively large Slickwater stimulation

treatments (200 to 500,000 lbs per stage)

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Barnett Shale Horizontal Well Pilot
SPE 90051 (2004)

2.02 Average Uncemented

1.74 Average Cemented

0.84 Average Vertical

24
Mid-2000s Development of Swell Packer Technology

Bonded element to standard casing / liner pipe; oil or water swellable:

Typically can withstand 5000 psi differential pressure

25
 Uncemented Wellbore Schematic
Example 20 stage Plug and Perf Completion

Application in liquid-rich fractured reservoirs

Propped Fracture Stimulation is typically run

across 15 to 35 completion stages working from
the toe of the well to the heel.

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Mid-2000s: Ball Activated Sliding Sleeve
Development

27
Sliding Sleeve Example

28
 Uncemented Wellbore Schematic
Example 20 stage Sliding Sleeve Completion

Application in liquid-rich fractured reservoirs

Propped Fracture Stimulation is typically run

across 10 to 40 completion stages working from
the toe of the well to the heel.

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Open Hole Multi-Stage Systems; SPE 135584 (2010)

Production of 3 wells with a cemented liner & plug and perf

completion Vs. 13 wells in the same field with an openhole
liner and sliding sleeves
120,000

100,000
Cumulative Oil Production (BBL)

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

OHMS Cemented Liner

0
0 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
Time (days)
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2012 Current Multi-Zone Completion Techniques

Plug and Perf Vs. Sliding Sleeve

Cemented or uncemented Uncemented

Unlimited # of zones Typically limited to ~20 stages

(repeater port technology increases this)

Multiple perf clusters per stage Typically 1 opening per stage

(mutil-port technology is available)

Slickwater or Gelled Frac Slickwater or Gelled Frac

Slow - Repetitive perforating and stimulation Fast timing is driven by the

phases to each stage (3 to 5 hours per cycle) frac design (12 hours per cycle)

Estimated Usage:
100% of Gas Shale Completions ~30% of Oil Shale Completions
~70% of Oil Shale Completions
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Bakken Oil Shale Williston Basin
SPE 163827 (2013)

32
Williston Basin Geological Cross-Section

33
Bakken Lithofacies

34
Simenson, 2010
Bakken Case Study: Structure & Development

1. Antelope Arch

2. Nesson & Billings

2 4 Anticlines

5 1 3. Elm Coulee Field

3
4. Sanish / Parshall /
Ross Fields

5. Central Basin
2

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Central Basin Initial Well Results - 2006
Treatment Design:

}
Pad
2 ppa
3 ppa
4 ppa
x6
5 ppa
Diverter

36
Central Basin Initial Well Results: 2006

37
Central Basin Initial Well Results: 2006 & 2008

38
Central Basin Company B Well Results: 2008

9 Stage
Completions

39
Central Basin Company B Well Results: 2008

40
Central Basin Company B Well Results: 2008-2010

41
Central Basin Company A and B Initial Well Results:
2008-2010

42
North Dakota Rig-Count and Production

43
North Dakota Rig-Count and Production

44
. and 3% Unemployment Statewide
Current Developments in Multi-Stage Horizontal Wells

Further development of
completion hardware
- Repeater Ports
- Multi-Entry Sleeves
- Cemented Sleeves

More / better measurement of

what how much of the resource
we are draining from each well

A focus on pad developments:

- Simultaneous operations
- Simulfrac treatments
45
SPE 138425
Pad Development Horn River Basin, BC
SPE 140654 (2011)

46
Courtesy: Apache Corp.
Example MultiStage Microseismic Mapping
at Horn River, BC

47
ESG July 2011 Newsletter
Marcellus Shale Mapped Fracture Treatments

SPE 145949 Courtesy

of Pinnacle Technologies

48
 The Resource Triangle

Increased reservoir
contact per well:

Vertical Wells with

Hydraulic Fracturing

Horizontal Wells
with Multi-Stage
Hydraulic Fracturing

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Source: Wood Mackenzie
 Conclusions
Horizontal Drilling technology has been actively used for the
past 30 years, but it is only in the last 5 to 10 years that we have
seen the widespread application of multi-stage hydraulic
fracturing of horizontal wells
The reservoir productivity gains from multi-stage hydraulic
fracturing of horizontal wells is causing a revolution in our
industry
The number of horizontal rigs
The need for pumping services
The opportunity for economic exploitation of Unconventional Resources
Todays Completion Engineer has a variety of completion tools
and techniques which can be applied to effectively stimulate
horizontal wells
No one completion design fits all cases

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 The Technology Doesnt Always Work !!
Mississippian Lime Formation (OK) 3 Stage Completion (2007)

Event locations
from all stages
plot in the
same general
area

Width: 1700 ft.

Height: 500 ft.

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 Acknowledgements
SPE Distinguished Lecture Program
My family particularly my wife Maria, and the staff of Liberty
Resources.
The many co-workers that I have worked with on various
horizontal well projects throughout the past 30 years at Gulf,
ARCO, Carbo Ceramics, Zavanna and Liberty Resources;
Many industry colleagues and their companies who contributed
ideas and material for this talk:
Apache Corp (Karl DeMong, George King)
ex-ARCO personnel (Ahmed Abou-Sayed, Von Cawvey, Jim Dech, Mike
Haas, Frank Schuh, Mark Sheehan, Ryan Stramp)
Kuparuk River Field Owners (Gary Targac ConocoPhillips Alaska)
Packers Plus (Josh Janey)
Southwestern Energy (Karen Olson)
Spears & Associates (Richard Spears)
TAM International (Kendall Manning)
ex-UPRC personnel (Nathan Meehan, Santosh Verma) 53
Wood MacKenzie (Sid Sen)
Contact Information:
Mark.Pearson@LibertyResourcesLLC.com

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