Abstract
A new proppant-pack technology is enhancing incremental gas recovery and estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of unconventional methane gas in the Northern Michigan Antrim production area. This new technology has enhanced project economics in both restimulation and new-drill applications. Over time, these new technology applications that have evolved in the Antrim play, have resulted in investment-capital infusion and have encouraged development, which has capitalized on development strategies that implement new technology.
The new proppant-pack technology uses a liquid surface-modification agent (SMA) that is applied to proppant on-the-fly during a hydraulic fracture-stimulation treatment. This process coats individual proppant grains with a "tacky" surface, causing the proppant grains to cluster and create a network of loosely packed grains with interconnected clusters. The result is a pliable, but consolidated, proppant pack. The proppant pack also contains conduits, but its adhesive nature increases proppant resistance to post-fracture migration toward the wellbore. The modified proppant grain surfaces enhance the dewatering process by promoting the flow of aqueous fluids and entrapping potentially damaging fines on grain surfaces rather than in pore constrictions.
This paper compares SMA restimulation technology to newly drilled wells on a project basis. Production enhancement results (based on individual well response and impact on total project production response) show that production results are important at both the project and individual well scale.
When compared to the population of conventionally treated wells, newly drilled completions that received the new SMA technology modified the probability distribution of well production. Restimulation was economical on a payout basis and converted gas-in-place to recoverable reserves, enhancing the economics of lower production-class wells.
