SPE Distinguished Lecturer 2018-19 Lecture Season 

This lecture presents approaches for increasing production from horizontal wells with multistage fracture (HWMSF) completions in conventional reservoirs. HWMSF completions are now regularly being drilled and completed in low-to-mid-permeability oil-bearing conventional reservoirs (k<10 md) where the oilfield is under waterflooding. Although the industry has closed the HWMSF technology gap of drilling and completing these wells, the productivity has been below the expected level. The production is characterized by either an early-time relatively high production rate followed by a steep production decline and water breakthrough or low initial production and even lower late-time production. What went wrong and what can be done? The lessons learned in unconventional reservoirs are not pertinent to conventional formations. Hence, the problem was examined from the reservoir standpoint, focusing on achieving adequate pressure support to maximize drainage, revising the waterflood process through drilling patterns, and evaluating the specific completion techniques. Equally, the question warrants answers on current HWMSF restimulation, addressing methodology applied to specific completion design, the horizontal wellbore azimuthal orientation within the stress field, and, finally, the operating condition of the injector and producer wells. The lecture discusses novel designs for refracturing and for future reservoir development, and, at the same time, is a plea to the drilling, completion, and reservoir engineering teams to integrate their competencies to optimize these complex production systems.

Registration for this event closes at 6:00 PM CDT on Friday, April 12, 2019.