Abstract
In most developing shale plays, there is a learning curve for determining which factors best affect well production and yet still leave them economical. Advancing up this curve can take years to achieve as operators adopt a baseline treatment and th en adjust certain specific variables to find the best economic solution. However, by evaluating the reservoir on a playwide basis, the ability to find the optimal treatment method can be expedited, benefiting the operators by allowing them to achieve better wells earlier in the play’s development. Though many factors can hold a major influence (e.g., wellbore placement, rock properties, and flowback procedures), this study will review the production impact of specific variables of the fracture treatments, including well location. Using public production data with a database of stimulation treatments for several hundred wells in the Haynesville shale, variables such as pumping rate, volumes, proppant (type and volume), frac stage designs, base fluid, and surfactant usage can be analyzed to find which ones produce a positive effect on a well’s production. In addition to a well’s overall production magnitude, in the majority of the shale plays, regulating the decline of the production curve sometimes has been a crucial element in achieving the estimated ultimate recovery needed to make the play development economical. The stimulation-variables database will also be investigated to determine which factors can have an influence on ensuring a production curve’s decline will level off at a higher percentage of its initial production. By selectively identifying and grouping wells inside and outside the core area of the play, this study distinguishes which variables are positively affecting production while reducing the masking effect caused by geographic location. Conventional fracturing theory is applied to offer explanations of what might be occurring inside the reservoir or fracture system to make these findings hold true (or, at least, plausible).
