By: W. Aaron Burton

Abstract

The Basics blog posts are a series of posts designed for people who want to learn more about unconventional multistage completions systems, but do not have experience in well completions or an oil and gas background. The goal of this series is to explain technical subjects in a simple and easy to understand manner, so that beginners can learn more about the subject matter.

As the title suggests, this post is focused on what hydraulic fracturing is and why it is required in these “unconventional” rock formations. Although hydraulic fracturing is often given all the credit for unlocking these formations, there are two other technologies that are most often needed for economically producing wells – horizontal drilling and multistage completions. This post gives an overview of all of these technologies, why they are needed, and the overall completion process in this application.