Abstract
Fracture stimulation of long openhole horizontal wells is known to be extremely difficult when conventional stimulation methods are used. The level of difficulty increases significantly when multiple fractures are to be placed in openhole multilateral wells. A relatively new hydrajetfracturing process may be one of only a few methods that can be used to fracture-stimulate multilateral wells effectively without the use of sealing devices. This process is unique because many fractures can be placed at precise locations as desired. After reviewing the recent effectiveness of the process in single-wellbore openhole completions, an operating company elected to evaluate this stimulation method for multilateral wells.
This paper describes implementation of this new technology in three multilateral wells drilled through the James Lime formation in the east Texas/west Louisiana area. Past experiences of fracture acidizing James Lime wells with hydrochloric acid (HCl) indicate that this process can be successful as a stimulation process. However, the effectiveness of fracturing these types of wells with sand or proppants was not proven. The three wells were treated using three fracture-stimulation approaches: (1) multistage combining two stages each of HCl acid and proppantfracturing stimulation, (2) multistage with only a single acid stage, and (3) proppant-fracturing stimulation alone. Well production responses resulting from these three approaches are evaluated in this paper.
