Instructor: Larry Britt, Britt Rock Mechanics Laboratory at Tulsa University

The fee includes lunch, class notes and PDH certificate.

Horizontal wells have become the industry standard for unconventional and tight formation gas reservoirs. Because these reservoirs have poorer quality pay, it takes a good, well-planned completion and fracture stimulation(s) to make an economic well. Even in a sweet spot in the unconventional and tight gas reservoir, good completion and stimulation practices are required; otherwise, a marginal or uneconomic well will result. But what are good completion and stimulation practices in horizontal wells? What are the objectives of horizontal wells and how do we relate the completion and stimulation(s) to achieving these goals? How many completions/stimulations do we need for best well performance and/or economics? How do we maximize the value from horizontal wells? When should a horizontal well be drilled longitudinally or transverse? These are just a few questions to be addressed during this workshop.

This workshop will focus on some of the key elements of well completions and stimulation practices as they apply to horizontal wells. Optimization studies will be shown and used to highlight the importance of lateral length, number of fractures, inter-fracture distance, fracture half-length, and fracture conductivity. These results will be used to discuss the various completion choices such as cased and cemented, open hole with external casing packers, and open hole “pump and pray” techniques. This workshop also will address key risks to horizontal wells and develop risk mitigation strategies so that project economics can be maximized. In addition, tight and unconventional gas field case studies will be used to illustrate the application of these design, optimization, and risk mitigation strategies for horizontal wells in tight and unconventional gas reservoirs.

Topics Include:

Larry Britt is an engineering consultant with NSI Fracturing. Since joining NSI in early 1999, Larry has specialized in the development and application of tools for the post appraisal of hydraulic fracturing stimulations. Britt’s experience includes the optimization, design, and execution of fracture stimulations and integrated field studies throughout the world. Larry is the co-author of the SPE book “Design and Appraisal of Hydraulic Fractures.”