American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - 41

SpecialReport: Unconventional Resource Science
formed multiple times without having to
pull out of the hole. This allows for continuous swapping between zonal isolation,
perforating and fracturing.
Diverting Agents
Previously perforated frac stage intervals along the wellbore must be isolated
to allow new hydraulic fractures to be
placed at new or existing locations during
the recompletion process. This prevents
certain perforations from continuously
receiving all the proppant and fluid
pumped down hole during fracture treatment. Horizontal wells typically are fractured initially using ball-activated "plugand-perf" or sliding-sleeve techniques to
establish zonal isolation. However, mechanical isolation tools potentially can
be quite costly in refrac applications,
making chemical diverting agents an attractive option.
Diverting agents are placed within
perforation tunnels or the fracture itself
to create physical barriers that create a
lower permeability than the perforations
that remain exposed. The frac treatment
fluid will follow the path of least resistance
into the desired perforation, if executed
correctly.
Among the different categories of diverting agents:
* Granular, self-degrading materials
can be pumped through perforations
into the formation. These materials usually are comprised of plastics such as
poly(glycolic acid) or poly(lactic acid).

The material is pumped much like proppant to plug outside the casing inside
the formation, and breaks down when
exposed to wellbore fluids for a certain
time and at a certain temperature.
* Self-degrading frac balls, of
course, are a proven method of plugging
perforations in plug-and-perf operations
in shale plays.
* Fibrous perforation plugging devices are of fibrous construction and are
deployed much like frac balls. They are
effective at finding and plugging perforations, and have the advantage of sealing irregular openings in the casing, and
stick to perforations more effectively
than frac balls. These devices can be
acid-degradable or self-degrading. This
type of diverting agent also may be
drilled out of the wellbore mechanically.
Diverting technologies have been developed continuously over time with varying levels of success, and can offer tremendous cost savings over zonal isolation
methods using conventional downhole
tool operations.
Abrasive Perforating
Using coiled tubing for initial hydraulic
fracturing as well as refracturing has been
somewhat limited because of the size
and strength of the tubing strings, since
high rates and pressures are needed to
break down and prop a given rock volume.
Even as coiled tubing sizes have increased
over time, CT's size and strength limita-

Gastar's Meramec Well Tops 1,000 Barrels A Day
HOUSTON-The Deep River 30-1H
well, Gastar Exploration Inc.'s first operated test of the STACK formation Meramec Shale play in Kingfisher County,
Ok., produced at a gross post-initial production average sales rate of 956 barrels
of oil equivalent, with 68 percent oil.
According to Gastar, the well commenced flowback in October and in December produced a peak 24-hour rate of
1,094 boe a day, with 71 percent oil. The
company says its independent reservoir
engineer estimates the ultimate recovery
for the Deep River 30-1H well to be 705
million barrels of oil equivalent, with
crude oil comprising 50 percent on a wet
gas basis.
Gastar says it has a 100 percent working (80 percent net revenue) interest in
the well, and adds the Deep River Meramec test well moved the productive out-

line of the Meramec play further northeast.
As a result of the Deep River 30-1H
well's success, the company says it intends to spud its second Meramec well,
the Holiday Road, also in Kingfisher
County, in February. The Holiday Road
well is four miles north and three miles
east of the Deep River 30-1H.
"We continue to be pleased with the
productivity of the Deep River Meramec
test well, and are very pleased to announce that the EUR estimate is 40 percent above the high-end of our predrill
estimates," says J. Russell Porter, Gastar's president and chief executive officer.
"We plan to continue to delineate our
acreage to derisk our Meramec position,
and are confident that this play can generate acceptable returns even with today's
commodity prices."
❒

tions have prevented it from becoming a
preferred means of transporting fracture
treatment slurries to the desired downhole
locations.
However, coiled tubing still can be
very useful during fracturing operations
when it is used with abrasive perforating
and diverting agents as a way to deliver
pinpoint fracturing and stimulation treatments, as well as post-job clean-out operations.
There are two possible methods for
recompleting wells using CT technologies.
The first can be used for both stimulating
new wells and recompleting existing
wells, and it provides a way to pinpoint
each multistage fracture.
Initially, diverting agents should be
pumped as needed to plug all perforations
in the wellbore. A bottom-hole assembly
with an abrasive jet perforator is then
run down hole to the lowest target interval.
An abrasive slurry is pumped from the
surface to begin the perforating process
of either new zones or existing perforated
locations.
After the perforation process is complete, the BHA is picked up above the
perforations to prevent the string from
becoming stuck during fracture treatment.
Once the BHA has been relocated, the
frac slurry can be pumped down the annulus to establish an injection rate and
hydraulically break down the formation
at the perforated interval.
After the targeted zone has been fractured, the diverting agents can be pumped
down the annulus between the tubing
and the casing to isolate the newly fractured zone. The process of perforating,
fracturing and isolating can be repeated
for each subsequent stage until all stages
have been completed.
Completing a clean-out of the diverting
agents will reopen the wellbore for production. The method of clean-out depends
on the type of diverting agent utilized. It
can require acid to deteriorate/dissolve,
be self-degrading with extended exposure
to fluid and temperature, or be removed
mechanically with a downhole motor for
clean-out. For effective removal with a
downhole motor, the diverting agent must
seal at the face of the perforations and
not in the fracture itself.
The major benefit to this recompletion
technique is that it allows each individual
stage/zone to be properly treated and
fractured, providing the operator with a
true representation of the performance
of each stage/zone. Additionally, the pump
FEBRUARY 2016 41



American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016

Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - Cover1
American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - Cover2
American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - 4
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2016 - Cover3
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