Abstract
As longer laterals are drilled in the Utica to maximize acreage cover, the stimulation treatments must still establish high pumping rates to effectively treat multiple clusters even within the stages out near the toe area of the lateral. Overcoming this additional pipe friction as well as using various water sources of varying salinity (up to and including 300,000 ppm) with only one friction reducer (FR) polymer product is now possible. An additional benefit of this new salt-tolerant polymer (STP) as the FR additive is its ability to self-degrade with time and temperature to provide significant viscosity reduction for improving well cleanup after the treatment.
This paper discusses use of this new STP to successfully place 131 stages in the Utica on a three-well pad in Ohio using various percentages of brine water with the freshwater supply. This is contrasted with traditional FR and guar used in 61 stages on the same pad and 39 stages on an offset pad. The ability to continue operations in the subfreezing temperatures of winter, coupled with the ability to reuse produced water, provides additional benefits to field operations. The use of a single component STP as the friction reduction provider also reduces inventory stock and simplifies on-location quality assurance of material usage. Analytical production simulation confirms improvement in productivity index (PI) and estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) forecast.
