Pushing the boundaries – deployment of innovative drilling, completion and production technology to advance a deep coal seam play

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 770
Author(s):  
Romi Branajaya ◽  
Peter Archer ◽  
Andrew Farley
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Fracture Network ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Well Performance ◽  
Vertical Well ◽  
Gas Desorption ◽  
Multi Stage

Following technical success of vertical and deviated wells, Strike Energy audaciously continued to push the envelope while proving the commerciality of the deep coal seam play in PEL96. It was clear that extending the reservoir contact area of the wellbore and using innovative dewatering to significantly increase drainage was prudent. A horizontal well intercepting a vertical well coupled with multi-stage fracture stimulation was selected to achieve that goal. Furthermore, a new application of wide operating range electric submersible pumps would enable dewatering to much lower water rates to avoid running the pumps dry or damaging the fracture network upon gas desorption and breakthrough. Although a wellbore stability issue was encountered during the well construction phase, requiring a modified well trajectory, the horizontal well successfully intercepted the vertical well, reaching planned total measured depth. It also altered fracture stimulation approach to an indirect vertical fracture completion application, whereby fractures are initiated from the interburden layer below the coal seam. A million pounds of proppant was successfully placed in seven fracture stages. During the proppant pumping, diagnostic tools (tiltmeter and microseismic) and chemical tracers were utilised. The real-time microseismic confirmed the propagation of fracture from interburden upwards into the target coal seam. This presents the integration of well performance, subsurface information, past drilling practices and stimulation treatment results to support the decision-making process of a horizontal well construction and stimulation design as well as integration of real-time information to overcome operation difficulties and optimise well delivery. Tracer samplings and ongoing production testing during dewatering are also presented.

INTEGRATION OF RESERVOIR AND WELL FLOW SIMULATORS FOR ANALYSIS OF HORIZONTAL WELL PERFORMANCE

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
G. Sanchez ◽  
A. Kabir ◽  
E. Nakagawa ◽  
Y. Manolas
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Pressure Profile ◽  
Learning System ◽  
Well Performance ◽  
Reservoir Properties ◽  
Well Completion ◽  
Real Time Analysis ◽  
Reservoir Simulator ◽  
Inflow Performance

The optimisation of a well’s performance along its life cycle demands improved understanding of processes occurring in the reservoir, near wellbore and inside the well and flow lines. With this purpose, the industry has been conducting, for several years, initiatives towards reservoirwellbore coupled simulations.This paper proposes a simple way to couple the near wellbore reservoir and the wellbore hydraulics models, which contributes to the optimisation of well completion design (before and while drilling the well) and the maximisation of the well inflow performance during production phases, with support of real-time and historical data. The ultimate goal is the development of an adaptive (self-learning) system capable of integrated, real-time analysis, decision support and control of the wells to maximise productivity and recovery factors at reservoir/field level. At the present stage, the system simulates the inflow performance based on an iterative algorithm. The algorithm links a reservoir simulator to a hydraulics simulator that describes the flow inside the wellbore. The link between both simulators is based on equalisation of flow rates and pressures so that a hydraulic balance solution of well inflow is obtained. This approach allows for full simulation of the reservoir, taking into consideration the petrophysical and reservoir properties, which is then matched with the full pressure profile along the wellbore. This process requires relatively small CPU time and provides very accurate solutions. Finally, the paper presents an application of the system for the design of a horizontal well in terms of inflow profile and oil production when the production is hydraulically balanced.

Design and optimisation of multi-stage hydraulic fracturing in a horizontal well in a shale gas reservoir in the Cooper Basin, South Australia

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kunakorn Pokalai ◽  
Yang Fei ◽  
Maqsood Ahmad ◽  
Manouchehr Haghighi ◽  
Mary Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Stress Profile ◽  
Stress Regime ◽  
Vertical Well ◽  
Fracture Simulation ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Cooper Basin

Multi-stage hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells is a well-known technology and is a key mechanism for gas recovery from extremely low permeable shale gas reservoirs. Since Australia’s Cooper Basin has a more complex stress regime and higher temperatures when compared to US shale gas formations, the design and optimisation of this technology in the Cooper Basin has not been explored to the authors’ knowledge. The Murteree and Roseneath shale formations in the Cooper Basin are 8,500 ft in depth and have been targets for shale gas production by different oil and gas operators. Deeper zones are difficult to fracture, as fracture gradients are often above 1 psi/ft. In this study, 1D vertical mechanical earth modelling using petrophysical log data was developed. Then, the stress profile was tuned and validated using the minimum horizontal stress from a mini-frac test taken along a vertical well. A 3D hydraulic fracture simulation in a vertical well as developed as a pilot to select the best locations for horizontal drilling. The selection criteria for the best location included the stress regime, gas flow rate and fracture geometry. Then a multi-stage fracture treatment in a horizontal well was designed. A large number of cases were simulated based on different well lengths, stage spacing and the number of stages. The productivity index was selected as the objective function for the optimisation process. The best case finally was selected as the optimum multi-stage hydraulic fracturing in a horizontal well in the Cooper Basin.

Transient pressure behaviour of multi-stage fractured horizontal well in stress-sensitive coal seam

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Yang Hongbin ◽  
Yao Ze ◽  
Lou Erbiao ◽  
Jiang Huayi ◽  
Zhang Jiaming ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Transient Pressure ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Fractured Horizontal Well

A Systematic Approach to De-Risk and Improve Shale Gas Horizontal Well Drilling

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Gao ◽  
Jiaxin Zeng ◽  
Jiajun Xie ◽  
Liang Tang ◽  
Wenzhe Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Wellbore Stability ◽  
Drilling Process ◽  
Well Drilling

Abstract Horizontal well drilling contribute to a dramatic increase of shale gas production in unconventional reservoirs. However, the drilling is also risky and challenging with different types of drilling problems often encountered including stuck pipes, inflows, losses and pack-offs, etc. To reduce shale-gas development costs, shale gas operators are faced with finding effective solutions to minimize drilling risks and improve drilling efficiency. A holistic workflow, which can be divided into three steps: pre-drilled modelling and assessment, real-time monitoring, and post-drilled validation, is proposed. Based on the pre-drilled geomechanical modeling, mud weights, mud formulations and casing setting depths are optimized to ensure wellbore stability during the drilling process. Real-time operations involve monitoring drilling parameters and cavings characteristics (shape and volume), and providing updated recommendations for field drilling engineers to mitigate and reduce borehole instability related problems. During the post-drilled stage, the updated geomechanical model will be used for optimizing the drilling designs of upcoming wells. With geomechanics as foundation, a systematic workflow was developed to provide integrated solutions by using multiple technologies and services to reduce serious wellbore instability caused by abnormal formation pressures, wellbore collapse and other complex drilling problems. The implementation of the systematic and holistic workflow has proven to be extremely successful in supporting the drilling of shale gas wells in China. The integrated approach, which was applied in a Changning shale gas block in Sichuan Basin for the first time in March 2019, recorded an improvement in ROP by 111.2% and a reduction in mud losses by 89.9% compared with an offset well without the risk mitigation strategy applied in the same pad. The geomechanics-based approach provides a convenient and effective means to assist field engineers in mud weight optimization, drilling risk assessments, and horizontal well drilling performance evaluation. The approach can also be extended to reduce potential drilling risks and improve wellbore stability, all of which contributes to reducing drilling costs and optimizing subsequent massive hydraulic fracturing jobs.

Transient pressure behaviour of multi-stage fractured horizontal well in stress-sensitive coal seam

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Ren Zongxiao ◽  
Qu Zhan ◽  
Jiang Huayi ◽  
Lou Erbiao ◽  
Zhang Jiaming ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Horizontal Well ◽  
Transient Pressure ◽  
Multi Stage ◽  
Fractured Horizontal Well

Real Time early Multi Stage Attack Detection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuvraj Sanjayrao Takey ◽  
Sai Gopal Tatikayala ◽  
Satyanadha Sarma Samavedam ◽  
P R Lakshmi Eswari ◽  
Mahesh Uttam Patil
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Attack Detection ◽  
Multi Stage
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