Proposal
In an effort to improve oil production at Elk Hills, located in Kern County, California, successful new methods for acidizing both horizontal and vertical Monterey Shale wells were developed. During 1999 and 2000, 21 horizontal Shale wells were drilled with unacceptable production results, even though the petrophysical evaluation indicated the wells should have great flow potential.
The uncemented, slotted liners prevented the use of conventional stimulation techniques. Instead, the acid blend, placement, recovery, and flowback techniques using coiled tubing evolved and improved. Workover equipment optimization and utilization increased and time to market and operating expenses decreased. The results from acidizing horizontal wells increased oil production up to nine-fold.
Due to the successful large-volume hydrofluoric (HF) acid jobs on the horizontal Shale wells, many old vertical Shale wells were acidized using the same technique, increasing average well production by 110 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) and more than 500 MSCF/D. As a result of the diligent, combined team efforts of the operations personnel and the pumping service contractor, the total acidizing costs were reduced by U.S. $2,300,000. These costs were reduced through blending acid in the field, field-testing the oil for additives, lowering spent acid disposal costs, and mixing acid on the fly.
