American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2016 - 57

SpecialReport: Reservoir Optimization & Modeling
in wells 1, 2, 5 and 6. The production
logging tool (PLT) measures oil, water
and gas rates on a perforation cluster resolution to allow analysis of contribution
percentage on a cluster-by-cluster and
stage-by-stage basis. The main purpose
of gathering PLT data is to provide insights
into where production is distributed along
the lateral, and ultimately, to identify
which factors are contributing to production distribution.
For all four wells logged, 50 percent
of the clusters in each lateral were not
contributing at the time they were logged.
In other words, all the production was
coming from half the clusters. Well 6,
which had the most treatment placement
issues, had the lowest cluster efficiency
at 37 percent. Efforts to improve cluster
efficiency on future wells could include
well placement, hydraulic fracture design,
stage length, diversion/perforating clusters,
and phasing strategies.
Considerable effort was put into identifying the relative impact (positive or
negative) of engineering, completion and
mineralogy parameters on PLT distribution
results on a stage-level basis, using both
bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis. Unfortunately, neither approach provided much insight, but a simple spatial
investigation was undertaken that showed
that communication between laterals
might be the driving factor behind the
PLT results.
Figure 7 shows a map view of laterals
with the four PLT-logged wells, colored
and sized by stage contribution as a
fraction of total gas. Wells 1 and 2 were
logged in June 2015, and wells 5 and 6
were logged in December 2015. In both
instances, the pairs of laterals suggest
communication across laterals.
Near the heels of wells 1 and 2, there
was a significant portion of well 2 that
was not contributing production, which
corresponded to a section of well 1 where
large amounts of gas were recorded on
the PLT. It is believed those stages in
well 1 were "stealing" production from
the offsetting stages in well 2. Other potential areas where this may have been
occurring are highlighted by red ovals.
As in many other unconventional plays,
effectively producing fracture height will
be an important future topic of investiga-

Coming In October
Special Report:
Gulf of Mexico Operations

tion. The microdeformation data suggest
the actual "deformed" fracture height was
only 50-60 percent of the height suggested
by microseismic events. Accounting for
proppant settling, the propped fracture
height may be another 40-50 percent less
than the microdeformation height.
Production results and production
logging suggest interwell conductivity,
which means wellbore placement, well
spacing, fracture spacing, and perforation
cluster efficiency can be optimized further.
NINGNING LI is senior petroleum
engineer at Black Hills Exploration &
Production, focused on well completions
and production in the Piceance Basin.
Before joining the company in 2014, Li
served as senior operations engineer
at Emerald Oil, regional manager at
GoFrac, regional sales manager and
sales engineer at Superior Well Services,
technical and sales consultant at Zeox
Corp., and well services engineer at
Schlumberger. She holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of
California, Irvine.
MIKE MAYERHOFER is director of
technology at Liberty Oilfield Services in
Denver. With 24 years of experience in
hydraulic fracturing and reservoir engineering, he joined the company in 2015.
Mayerhofer started his career at Union
Pacific Resources and joined Pinnacle
Technologies in 1997, where he served
18 years, including as director of the
Fracturing Center of Excellence at Pinnacle, a Halliburton Service. Mayerhofer
holds a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering
from Mining University Leoben in Austria.
ART CHILDERS is engineering manager at Black Hills Exploration & Production in Denver. He has 30 years of
experience in completion and production
operations. Childers began his career
at Union Pacific Resources, and subsequently held various engineering roles
with Helmerich & Payne, Osborn Heirs
Company, Klabzuba Oil & Gas, and
Black Hills. He holds a B.S. in petroleum
engineering from the University of
Wyoming.
ROBERT WEITZEL is an independent
consultant advising on production and
completion operations, design, and optimization. He has 42 years of experience

The lessons learned during the drilling,
completion and production of the six
wells is being used to populate a functional
reservoir model for future well designs.
r
Editor's Note: For additional information on the six horizontal-well Niobrara
study, see URTeC 2435473, a technical
paper presented at the 2016 Unconventional
Resources Technology Conference, held
Aug. 1-3 in San Antonio.
in domestic production, vertical and
horizontal multistage completions, management, and consulting. Weitzel has
worked with both majors and independents in numerous basins, including 18
years with Union Pacific Resources,
where he served as operations manager.
He holds a degree in construction management from Colorado State University.
RICHARD WHITE is exploration manager at Black Hills Exploration & Production. He began his career in 1982
at Unocal, and subsequently served as
a senior geologist at Tom Brown Inc.,
Saudi Aramco, and Calpine Natural
Gas before joining Blacks Hills in 2004
as geological adviser. He holds a B.S.
in geology from Northern Illinois University and an M.S. in geology from the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
ELY LOLON is reservoir services
manager at Liberty Oilfield Services.
He joined the company in 2015 after
serving as senior completions engineer
at Marathon Oil. Prior to his tenure at
Marathon, Lolon worked in various
reservoir and completions engineering
positions at Anadarko Petroleum Corp.,
CARBO Ceramics, and Pinnacle Technologies. He holds an M.S. and a Ph.D.
in petroleum engineering from Texas
A&M University and an M.B.A. from
Rice University.
HOWARD MELCHER is a geologist
at Liberty Oilfield Services. Prior to
joining Liberty, he worked as a geologist
at U.S. Energy, where he spent five
years focusing on projects in the Appalachian Basin and the Rocky Mountain
region. He holds a B.S. in geology from
the State University of New York at Buffalo, and continued with graduate studies
at Texas A&M.
SEPTEMBER 2016 57



American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2016

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

Contents
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2016 - Contents
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2016 - Cover3
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