American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015 - 67

SpecialReport: Unconventional Resource Science
FIGURE 6
Gauged BHFP (Stages 12-29)
16,000
14,000
Bottom-Hole Frac Pressure (psi)

to contribute to production.
Cross-linked fracturing fluids contain
breaker chemicals to help break the system
and assist in flow back. A breaker test is
always run at the formation conditions
prior to starting a job to determine the
required breaker concentration. Knowing
the exact formation temperature gives a
more reliable breaker concentration for
the fracturing fluid. Having downhole
temperature pressure data allowed the
operator and service provider to close
the feedback loop on fluid design during
the post-job analysis phase and further
optimize future treatment designs.
With plug-and-perf fracturing operations, the Bone Spring formation typically
is completed in 10 frac stages. That normally requires an average of 65,200
barrels of water pumped at high rates to
treat multiple clusters at once and considerable NPT between stages to pump
down a wireline BHA. A typical treatment
requires on the order of 11,600 hydraulic
horsepower (HHP). Including prep work
and post-frac mill out of composite plugs
with CT or a workover rig, a 10-stage
plug-and-perf operation in this area takes
five days on average.
On the other hand, the CTFS operation
used less water because of the reduced
flush volumes required with the 2.0-inch
CT inside the 51⁄2-inch casing. Post-frac
clean-out time also was reduced by not
having to drill out plugs, balls or seats.
The casing was clear of any obstructions,
as verified by a clean-out run. CTFS
helped saving even more time on acid

12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
Upper Pressure Trans (1)
4,000
2,000

Upper Pressure Trans (2)
Upper Pressure Trans (3)
Lower Pressure Trans

0
26.5

28.5

30.5

spotting by pumping it down the CT
during the 4.0-psa sand stage and flush
stage. HCl was placed within one barrel
from the bottom of the CT once, so that
it was ready to be spotted at the sleeve
when the packer was set for the stage.
CTFS also saved acid volume by pinpointing the acid out of the jet nozzle
across from the open sleeve. This allowed
the concentrated acid to dissolve any material that blocked the flow from the
sleeve to the formation. In addition, CTFS
required less HHP. The average HHP required for the operation was 7,000 horsepower, substantially reducing the footprint
on location since less pumping equipment
needed.
r

Lone Star NGL Moves On Permian Basin Pipelines
DALLAS-The management of Energy
Transfer Partners LP and Regency Energy
Partners LP have authorized the companies' joint venture, Lone Star NGL LLC,
to construct a 533-mile, 24- and 30-inch
natural gas liquids pipeline from the Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu, Tx., and
convert Lone Star's West Texas 12-inch
NGL pipeline into crude oil/condensate
service.
The new pipeline and conversion projects, estimated to cost between $1.5
billion and $1.8 billion, are expected to
be operational by the third quarter of
2016 and first quarter of 2017, respectively,
the companies say.
According to Energy Transfer and Regency Energy, the pipeline is being built
to accommodate Lone Star's contracted

NGL transportation volumes that will exceed its 290,000 barrel-a-day capacity
from the Permian Basin by 2016. The
24-inch pipeline initially will be sized to
transport 375,000 bbl/d to Bosque County,
Tx., while the 30-inch pipeline is sized
to transport 495,000 bbl/d from Bosque
County to Mont Belvieu. The companies
add the pipelines could be expanded to
transport additional volumes in the future.
The West Texas NGL pipeline slated
for conversion to crude/condensate service
runs from the Midland area to the Gulf
Coast, and will be sized to ship 70,000
bbl/d to Corsicana, Tx., and 100,000 bbl/d
to Sour Lake, Tx. Lone Star says it plans
to hold an open season for the crude/condensate service at a later date.
r

32.5
Time (hrs)

34.5

36.5

38.5

DAVID LUNA is a production engineer for XTO Energy in Midland.
Before joining XTO in 2011, he served
at Read & Stevens as an operations
engineer for drilling, completion and
production operations in Southeast
New Mexico. Luna began his career
as a logging engineer at Schlumberger.
He holds a B.S. in petroleum engineering from Texas Tech University.
RUSLAN FILYUKOV is an operations
engineer at XTO Energy in Midland.
He joined the company in 2014 after
serving nearly five years at Baker Hughes Inc., joining the company as a field
engineer in 2010 and subsequently
working as a district engineer, a regional
engineer, and most recently, completions
engineering manager for the Permian
Basin. Filyukov holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech
University and is currently working toward completing an M.B.A. from Texas
Tech's Rawls College of Business.
OTMAN A. ALGADI is a district
technical supervisor at Baker Hughes'
pressure pumping product line in the
company's office in Odessa, Tx. He
joined the company as a well stimulation field engineer in 2012 He designs
and oversees stimulation treatments,
ensures quality control on well sites,
and provides technical and operational
support to Baker Hughes' stimulation
team in the Permian Basin. Algadi
holds a B.S. in chemical engineering
from Tripoli University and an M.S.
in petroleum engineering from Texas
Tech University.
FEBRUARY 2015 67

American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015