The Lead Role Of Production Optimization In A Shale Play: Analysis Of Critical Parameters And Their Impact On Overall Project Economics

Tight project economics and cracking pace operations are the common factors worldwide recognized when dealing with the development of gas shale play. Very often being able to identify critical parameters quickly is the only possibility to make a project a successful one. In the unconventional world where thousands of operations have to be repeated in a sort of assembly line more than in other different scenarios production optimization play the lead role impacting the overall field performances, investments and economical value of the project. Meeting the target requires identifying easy, reliable and repeatable technologies, fine tuning existing approaches, testing the ability to predict the productivity of shale gas reservoir and managing high efficiency production. One of the biggest challenges facing the industry has been identifying which drilling and completion strategy will create the most efficient fracture network in order to maximize hydrocarbon productivity and recovery. Some other parameters such as wells lateral length and its production efficiency and interference have to be accurately studied not to over or under stimulate formation. This paper addresses some of these major questions by starting from analysis of real case studies and will try to identify not the final answer but the correct path that should be followed in order to find the economical optimum of a complex system. The analysis begins with reservoir evaluation, followed by drilling and completion design and actual production optimization. Explanations of how the data gained from modeling will be built into future budgets and drawing conclusions from these performance indicators will help in predictions about new areas to be deployed.