Frac Hits, Infill Drilling, and Protection Fracs

11/2/2017

11/4/2017 12:47:06 am

Good job on the video! A recent SPE paper documented that fractures tend to grow parallel to low pressure areas (direction of max stress)...is there a threshold of depletion that must occur in the parent well before a likelihood of a frac hit increases? If the protection fracs are uneconomic, wouldn't it make more sense to complete the infill wells earlier to avoid the protection frac altogether?

Aaron Burton

11/10/2017 04:26:30 pm

Hi James,

Thank you! Yes, to both questions. The level of depletion will have a direct impact on the likelihood of a frac hit, but it's difficult to quantify the time frame or depletion at this point. I was at a workshop this week and it seemed everyone agreed that the sooner you fractured the child wells, the less likely frac hits would occur. It also seems like most operators realize this and are trying to frac all wells at the same time to prevent a negative impact from frac hits. However, in most cases the practice of drilling to hold acreage is necessary in the development phase in the US and Canada, so infill drilling scenarios will also occur.

George

11/7/2019 07:12:48 pm

How much, in you opinion, the positional uncertainty of the lateral wells affects the frac-hits problem. This uncertainty is the essential part of all MWD or gyro surveys and is due to minor systematic and random measurement errors that compound to each in a calculation process as the well's depth increases (like dead reckoning). The uncertainty may reach hundreds of feet, so the inter-lateral separation may be much lower/higher than expected. Is it accounted for in any way, does it affect stimulation modeling plans?

Aaron Burton

11/7/2019 08:42:19 pm

Hi George,

I'm not aware of anyone closely tracking the inter-lateral separation. As far as I can tell, they only pay attention to it after the fact if there are issues. There is definitely a correlation with the distance between the laterals and the likelihood of a frac hit occurring and the impact it has. My guess is that the variance of the lateral positioning is playing a role, but it is not being accounted for in the stimulation modeling plans (although it should).

Frac Hits, Infill Drilling, and Protection Fracs

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