Modeling of hydraulic fracturing began after the early years of the first application of this technology. Since then, researchers have taken several modeling approaches and significant progresses are achieved in hydraulic fracture modeling. Developments are result of studying different complexities such as out of plane propagation, different problem scales, fluid flow, thermal stress etc. In addition to these complexities, uncertainty of the problem dictates the prediction of final fracture geometry before the real operation.
Oil and gas production is from conventional and unconventional formations, with both requiring some form of stimulation. Limestone and dolomite are considered conventional formations which are stimulated with various treatments, either above fracturing pressure or below. Treatments above fracturing pressure are hydraulically created cracks that use either proppant or acid to maintain flow paths after closure. Treatments at pressures below fracturing use acids to create wormholes that penetrate into the reservoir bypassing any near wellbore damage.
Slickwater Fracturing has enabled us to penetrate deeper into tight formations than ever before. This presentation will discuss the basic fundamentals of Slickwater fracturing with respect to the base fluid,chemical additives, the frac process,the advantages and disadvantages of Slickwater, proppant placement, proppant selection, and Slickwater frac candidates.
The development of horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing has allowed operators to develop unconventional shale plays once considered uneconomical. As operators move toward longer horizontal and multilateral sections in these plays, the complexity with respect to well stimulation and completion systems increases. Before a well is stimulated or completed, critical problems can emerge, such as casing leaks.
Formation damage management and remediation are both a science and an art (Civan 1996). Currently, there are no proven technologies that are treated for all problems that an oil company may encounter. The issues revolving around formation damage is one of these convoluted issues which many oil companies currently struggle with.
Adequate preparation & design helps assure successful hydraulic fracturing. This paper will discuss the basic information that goes into frac design including fluid type, proppant selection, and equipment requirements. In addition, basic calculations, quality control and additional requirements for job preparation will be discussed.
Various options are available for successful underbalanced well intervention. This paper will compare two common methods, coiled tubing and snubbing (hydraulic workover), discussing each approach’s advantages, applications, and wellbore considerations in selecting an underbalanced intervention method. In addition, unit specifications, basic calculations and selection criteria will be addressed.
This work explains how to evaluate the different perforation parameters of the production vertical oil wells by using both reservoir and perforation information. We collected the necessary data from Hungarian oil wells including reservoir description data from the MOL Company files. We also collected the perforating guns data from the Schlumberger Company. We used four perforating HSD guns with different charge and explosive load design.
Oil well cementing has come a long way since the first verified use of cement in oil wells in 1903 by Union Oil Company. The years that followed have seen a remarkable amount of research and technological innovation in fluid flow mechanics, cement rheology, cement additives and cement job procedure. Given its purpose, well cementing is perhaps the most crucial stage in the development of any oil or gas well and as such proper procedure and guidelines as well as adherence to regulations are necessary to ensure success.
The combination of two technologies- horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing- made it possible to produce shale oil reservoirs economically.Although the massive stimulation treatment is the primary solution to recover efficient amount of oil from shale oil reservoirs, the recovery factors of these reservoirs are expected to be around 5-10%.The enormous remaining oil volumes stimulate our efforts to investigate the application of enhanced oil recovery methods in shale oil reservoirs. In unconventional reservoirs, cyclic gas injection using various gases could be an effective technique.
A newer trend in gel treatments is using preformed particle gels (PPGs) to reduce fluid channels through super-high permeability streaks/fractures. This work sought to determine what factors influence the blocking efficiency of PPG on fluid channels.
A transparent model was designed to observe the compression of gel particles in fluid channels at different load pressures to study the effect of different parameters on PPG blocking efficiency.
Accurate prediction of the behavior of multi-phase flow through wellhead chokes is required for modern production design and optimization of oil well performance.
This study presents the development of an empirical correlation that predicts the performance of simultaneous flow of oil, gas and water mixture through wellhead chokes. The correlation was derived on the basis of actual production data. The newly developed correlation predicts liquid flow rates as a function of flowing wellhead pressure, gas/liquid ratio and surface wellhead choke size.
: Paraffin is one of the major flow assurance problem in west and south Texas. The mitigation techniques for the case of onshore paraffin deposition is different from the offshore case. Chemical treatment is used instead of a pigging method for the onshore case. The current reliable methods for the onshore paraffin treatment are (1) downhole chemical injection, (2) solid paraffin inhibitor pumped during hydraulic fracturing, (3) hot water or oil circulation. The magnetic conditioning is also being
Determining the optimal equipment layout for an oil and gas facility must consider hazards resulting from a fire, explosion or toxic gas releases. Over the years, many incidents have occurred where workers were injured or equipment was damaged by explosions, fire or toxic gas releases when equipment or occupied structures were not located properly. This paper presents “state of the art” techniques to allow facility designers to optimally locate equipment to reduce the risk of injury and equipment damage.
Improving Paraffin Treating by Modernizing Chemical Applications: A Case Study of Pressurized Injection vs Positive Displacement Pump
This paper describes a novel technology that applies paraffin inhibitor with a pressurized injection system. The technology uses nitrogen gas to pressurize a chemical reservoir. An electric programmable valve controls the flow of chemical out of the reservoir. Adding an electric programmable valve to the flow line integrates chemical treatment and flush operation.
Amerada Petroleum drilled the first producing oil well in North Dakota in 1951. When Amerada and Hess merged, it provided Hess with a strategic position in North Dakota for the shale oil boom, assisting Hess in the acquisition of almost 900,000 acres at peak.
Worker safety is a vital part of the oil and gas industry. Enviroklean Product Development Inc. (EPDI) increases worker safety through education and training on Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM). EPDI offers several different training levels including NORM awareness, NORM worker, NORM surveyor and NORM Radiation Safety Officer (RSO). Education combined with enhanced surveys and analysis of NORM by gamma spectroscopy allows for accurate readings of NORM on a job site.
In the hydraulic fracturing industry, it has been a long-time problem and struggle to accurately track the usage of chemicals on fracturing site and make proper management decisions. The manual approach has measurement error and the chemical inventory information cannot be accessed by people such as directors or managers who may not be on site but need the critical information for decision-making. Obtaining chemical inventory information automatically and making it available on-line would significantly save material costs, enhancing asset management efficiency.
The early detection of "sweet spots" for oil/gas well site selection and fracturing in shale reservoirs is a challenge for many operators. Most of the time, unique parameters are utilized (i.e. brittleness based on geomechanical and geochemical parameters) to determine the "sweet spots" for well site placement. Additionally, the fractures are generally placed equidistantly.
This may create short transverse and/or non-planar hydraulic fractures that are problematic during hydraulic fracturing and may create suboptimal production.
Knowledge of the magnitude of different components of mechanical torque acting on the gearbox is crucial for the design and analysis of sucker-rod pumping installations. Gearbox torques include the torque required to drive the polished rod and the torque used to rotate the counterweights. In addition to these, inertial torques arise in those parts of the pumping unit that turn at varying speeds. As shown in the paper, all torque components are functions of the crank angle, consequently their exact calculation necessitates the knowledge of the crank angle vs. time function.
This paper will highlight the use of high liquid volume plunger lift to date in the Southern Delaware Basin. This method of lift was first considered by COG Operating, LLC in an effort to bridge the gap for taking a well from flowing to rod pump. Historically in the Southern Delaware Basin this was accomplished with high cost electric submersible pumps. One of the criteria for success was that plunger lift would be able to replace the electric submersible pumps and economically maintain the well on its natural decline. To date, COG has eight wells that have bee
We explore how minor modifications in routine usage of typical rod pumping equipment may improve the performance of rod pumped wells; e.g. how initial proper selection and implementation of polished rods and can limit well failures. Also discussed are pump design changes to mitigate common pumping problems, and why standardized pump designs are not over-all beneficial to producing wells. Additionally, we illustrate that standardized or “common” downhole design limits production rates
A new term “Equivalent Gas Free Pump Fillage Line” represents the amount of liquid fillage inside the pump chamber when the traveling valve opens during the down stroke. Adjustments for gas in solution, slippage, free gas, and compressibility of liquid due to pressure and temperature are required to determine the amount of stock tank liquid produced per day for a selected stroke.
The Electronic Downhole Load Cells (DHLC) was used during the mid-1990s to acquire downhole dynamometer data. The unique DHLC was mounted at a desired location in the rod string (usually between two rod tapers). Dynamometer data was collected while the well operated.
In the case of a vertical well, the rod string can be compared to an ideal slender bar. Therefore the propagation of stress waves occurring from cyclic loading and un-loading during a pumping cycle becomes a one dimensional phenomenon.
The most accurate way of computing downhole data, is therefore by solving the one-dimensional damped wave equation. The Modified Everitt-Jennings algorithm combines finite differences with other state of the art innovative algorithms to provide precise downhole data, accurately reflecting present downhole conditions.