Description
Economic development of low-permeability, unconventional reservoirs has necessitated the development of advanced horizontal drilling, completion, and stimulation techniques. This presentation starts with two questions. Does completion technology lag behind drilling technology? Can we drill longer wells than we can effectively complete/stimulate? For the resource plays of today, the challenges for completion technologies to keep pace with drilling advances are different from the past. Economic, supply chain, logistics, and environmental challenges may present the largest hurdles. The presentation concludes with the questions: Are completion engineers prepared to effectively stimulate and complete a 3-mile lateral? What will future field developments look like and what kinds of new completion technologies are required? Can we bridge the gap between drilling and completion in unconventional reservoirs?