SPE Distinguished Lecturer 2018-19 Lecture Season

Hydraulic fracturing is the single most commonly applied completion and intervention approach across the globe, from high-permeability reservoirs at one end of the scale to unconventional formations at the other.  Constantly, changing, adapting and challenging established thinking, it is one of the most widely and successfully applied techniques that is used within the oil and gas industry.

However, while we are all taught the fracturing theory and fundamentals, there is no true replacement for extensive operational exposure and experience, in planning, executing and working with hydraulic fracturing operations in a variety of situations.  The purpose of this presentation is to outline, impart and share, those issues that consistently recur and combine, to reduce or completely eliminate the success of hydraulic fracturing operations, particularly in new and start-up basins and regions.  This insight is based on more than 30 years of performing Exploration, Appraisal and Development fracturing operations; in diverse, frontier and challenging environments across some 35 Countries and many different basin types and depositions.  The themes, advice, best practice and lessons learned will be shared by means of actual case histories.

Attendees will leave with refreshed insight and renewed awareness of some of the most frequent issues that can negatively affect a fracturing operation.  The lessons learned are multi-disciplinary in nature and this renewed level of awareness will generate fresh perspective from the attendees, and encourage open discussion with their colleagues from other disciplines, on fracturing understanding, interpretation and impacts.  This is particularly important as large scale fracturing developments extend into new unknown formations and challenging new International basins, where skillsets and experience will sometimes be less well established.