Completion and stimulation trends in North American unconventional plays and resulting impact on well productivity

Roman Galchenko

doi:10.12143/j.ztgc.2021.10.001

2021 Vol. 48, No. 10

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Roman Galchenko. 2021. Completion and stimulation trends in North American unconventional plays and resulting impact on well productivity. DRILLING ENGINEERING, 48(10): 1-12. doi: 10.12143/j.ztgc.2021.10.001

Citation:

Roman Galchenko. 2021. Completion and stimulation trends in North American unconventional plays and resulting impact on well productivity. DRILLING ENGINEERING, 48(10): 1-12. doi: 10.12143/j.ztgc.2021.10.001

Completion and stimulation trends in North American unconventional plays and resulting impact on well productivity

Roman Galchenko¹

1. CNPC USA, Houston TX 77042, USA;
2. CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited, Beijing 102206, China;
3. College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (Beijing)， Beijing 102249, China

Received Date: 10 June 2021

Revised Date: 01 October 2021

Abstract

Abstract

Over the past decade， unconventional oil and gas exploration and development expanded considerably worldwide. Continuous technological progress and innovations in horizontal drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing enabled extended-reach lateral wells， which coupled with high intensity multi-stage completions allowed operators to maximize both reservoir contact area and stimulated reservoir volume （SRV）. However， challenges in completion optimization still remain and operators continue experimenting with various combinations of completion and stimulation parameters to ensure economic viability of developing unconventional reservoirs. Selecting optimal fit-for-purpose completion and stimulation parameters is a highly critical and field specific task.This paper summarizes the 2014 - 2020 fracture stimulation trends in 9 major North American unconventional plays： Marcellus， Haynesville， Barnett， Utica， Bone Spring， Bakken， Wolfcamp Midland， Eagle Ford， Scoop/Stack. The overall evolvement and trends of several key completion and stimulation parameters have been analyzed for each play. In addition， the influence of individual completion and stimulation parameters， such as stimulated lateral length， proppant intensity， stage spacing etc.， on well productivity has been evaluated. The initial post frac well productivity （average 90-day initial production rate） was analyzed to evaluate the impact of each completion parameter on well performance and determine the optimal range for each completion parameter leading to best well performance.
- hydraulic fracturing /
- multistage completion /
- stimulation trends /
- well productivity /
- lateral length /
- proppant intensity /
- fluid intensity /
- stage spacing /
- well spacing /
- unconventional oil and gas /
- North American

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