Dimensionless Section-Level Cumulative Oil Vs. Pumped Fluid Normalization Plot in Unconventional Development

Authors
Nicolas M. Rosenhagen (Colorado School of Mines) | Steven D. Nash (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation) | Walter C. Dobbs (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation) | Kevin V. Tanner (Anadarko Petroleum Corporation)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2118/195204-MS
Document ID
SPE-195204-MS
Publisher
Society of Petroleum Engineers
Source
SPE Oklahoma City Oil and Gas Symposium, 9-10 April, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
Publication Date
2019
Document Type
Conference Paper
Language
English
ISBN
978-1-61399-659-1
Copyright
2019. Society of Petroleum Engineers
Disciplines
7.1.9 Project Economic Analysis, 2 Well completion, 2.7.1 Completion Fluids, 2.5.2 Fracturing Materials (Fluids, Proppant), 3 Production and Well Operations, 7 Management and Information, 2.4 Hydraulic Fracturing, 2.1 Completion Selection and Design, 1.6 Drilling Operations, 2.7 Completion Fluids, 7.1.10 Field Economic Analysis, 7.1 Asset and Portfolio Management, 1.6.6 Directional Drilling, 2.1 Completion Selection and Design
Keywords
Normalization, Section Level, Unconventional, N-Plot, Dimensionless
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Abstract

The volume of stimulation fluid injected during hydraulic fracturing is a key performance driver in the horizontal development of the Niobrara formation in the Denver-Julesburg (DJ) Basin, Colorado. Oil production per well generally increases with stimulation fluid volume. Often, operators normalize both production and fluid volume based on stimulated lateral length and investigate relationships using "per-ft" variables. However, data from well-based approaches commonly display such wide distributions that no useful relationships can be inferred. To improve data correlations, multivariate analysis normalizes for parameters such as thermal maturity, depth, depletion, proppant intensity, drawdown, geology and completion design. Although advancements in computing power have decreased cycle times for multivariate analysis, preparing a clean dataset for thousands of wells remains challenging. A proposed analytical method using publicly available data allows interpreters to see through the noise and find informative correlations.

Using a data set of over 5000 wells, we aggregate cumulative oil production and stimulation fluid volumes to a per-section basis then normalize by hydrocarbon pore volume (HCPV) per section. Dimensionless section-level Cumulative Oil versus Stimulation Fluid Plots ("Normalization" or "N-Plot") present data distributions sufficiently well-defined to provide an interpretation and design basis of well spacing and stimulation fluid volumes for multi-well development. When coupled with geologic characterization, the trends guide further refinement of development optimization and well performance predictions.

Two example applications using the N-Plot are introduced. The first involves construction of predictive production models and associated evaluation of alternative development scenarios with different combinations of well spacing and completion fluid intensity. The second involves "just-in-time" modification of fluid intensity for drilled but uncompleted wells (DUC's) to optimize cost-forward project economics in an evolving commodity price environment.

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