ABSTRACT
The James Lime is a carbonate formation located along the United States Gulf of Mexico upper coast. Exploration wells were drilled in the James Lime beginning in the 1950's, with commercial activity occurring in the following decade. Wells were drilled exclusively vertical from its discovery through the late 1990's. Over this timeframe, these wells had a great deal of variability in production which hindered the development of the play. Given the apparent rock potential, the production results from these types of completions were oftentimes disappointing and uneconomical.
Many different types of drilling and completion technologies have been attempted over the history of the James Lime in order to improve production results. Little has been publicly documented on the impact of these step changes attempted on the James Lime. One striking technological innovation occurred in the late 1990's when operators started drilling wells horizontally in the James Lime. Initially these wells were either not stimulated or completed with a single stage hydraulic fracturing treatment. Just drilling horizontally had little impact on production results and consistency. Within a few years of horizontal development, wells started to be hydraulically fractured with multiple treatment stages using advanced open-hole multistage isolation systems. These two technological innovations along with others had an impact on increasing James Lime production over time. (IHS, 2011)
This paper analyzes the various drilling and completion technologies that have been applied to the James Lime over its 50 year history. The impact on production of these practices since 1995 is also presented. Some of the variants analyzed to determine their impact on production include hole direction, lateral length, completion isolation system, and number of stages treated. Hydraulic fracturing treatment details such as proppant type, treatment volume, and proppant volume were analyzed to determine their impact on production results as well. Other factors were taken into consideration when performing the production analysis including the timeframe when the well was drilled and completed.
The results of this analysis uncovered the impact on production that technological advancements had over time on the tight James Lime carbonate formation. It highlights the key production drivers in the James Lime and how to improve production of future wells drilled in the formation. Furthermore, the lessons learned and key technologies from this formation can be applied to other tight carbonate plays around the world.
