SPE General Meeting

Topic:      Improved Production from Horizontal Wells in the Bakken        

Speaker:    Mike Vincent, Consultant

Date:              Wednesday - November 17, 2010

Time:         11:30 am

 Place:         Denver Athletic Club

4th Floor 1325 Glenarm Place Denver, CO80204 303-534-1211

Map of 1325 Glenarm Pl Denver, CO 80204-2114

 Cost:    $25.00 with reservations, $30.00 at the door if space is available.

 Abstract: 
 This presentation is based on SPE 134595 presented at the Annual Technical Conference in September, 2010 by Brigham Exploration.  Additional details can be found in this paper. 

The presentation summarizes the development philosophy and key learnings of one operator in completing this low permeability reservoir with hydraulically fractured horizontal wells. Significant production gains have been achieved through advancements in completion methods, improving the overall economics of the Bakken/Three Forks oil play.

This paper describes the evolution of completion strategy, including:
-        Lateral length and number of stages
-        Method of isolation
-        Completion and fracturing techniques
-        Proppant type and concentration
-        Flowback strategy

Through careful investigation and continual improvement, the authors have been able to significantly increase well production compared to their previous wells. Wells with improved completions have also experienced notably higher production rates than offset wells completed by operators with differing strategies.  It is clear that lateral length and number of stages, coupled with proppant type and concentration, are key variables that have significantly improved well productivity and profitability. 

F&D costs have been reduced from $40/boe to ~$15/boe as the operator has improved their completions, and additional optimization is expected.  Bakken/Three Forks profitability can be dramatically improved by altering completion designs. Although specific treatment parameters should be adapted as formation characteristics vary across the play, it is believed this discussion of current design strategy will be useful to the audience and accelerate optimization of Bakken/Three Forks completions.  Future innovation will occur, and it is hoped that the discussion of these learnings will encourage additional experimentation and optimization.

Biography:

Mike Vincent is a consulting engineer with 20 years' experience in economic optimization of hydraulic fractures. After completing his degree at the Colorado School of Mines, he worked with Amoco in Denver, and with ARCO in Anchorage, Kuparuk, and Denver. Mike started Insight Consulting in 1996, specializing in fracture design and reservoir analyses. Mike has also consulted with CARBO Ceramics since 1998, allowing him to optimize fractures in reservoirs around the world by accurately predicting production under realistic conditions. He has written more than 25 technical papers, has been awarded two patents, and has instructed more than 100 seminars on fluid flow, fracture design, and practical production optimization. He is very active in SPE, serving as a technical editor and on steering committees for several SPE meetings and workshops. Mike frequently lectures at universities and presents fracturing schools to numerous companies and organizations, and served as a Distinguished Lecturer for SPE.