--> Unconventional Resource Recovery Improvement Using Conventional Reservoir Engineering Strategies, Roundtree, Russell; Sedillos, Lia; Wright, John; Miskimins, Jennifer, #90100 (2009)
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Previous HitUnconventionalNext Hit Resource Recovery Improvement Using Conventional Reservoir Engineering Strategies

Roundtree, Russell1
 Sedillos, Lia2
 Wright, John3
 Miskimins, Jennifer4

1Halliburton, Denver, CO.
2
Petro-Canada, Denver, CO.
3
Norwest Corp., Golden, CO.
4
Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO.


Conventional Previous HitresourcesNext Hit follow a very different reservoir development process than do most Previous HitunconventionalNext Hit resource plays. In the case of the numerous tight gas and shale gas plays in
North America, maximizing the profitability of the individual well being drilled dominates the development strategy compared to maximizing overall resource recovery. Most conventional Previous HitresourcesNext Hit utilize a workflow that incorporates optimizing the overall reservoir recovery and rolls the field-wide economics into the decision making process.

Previous HitUnconventionalNext Hit Previous HitresourcesNext Hit usually require stimulation. Often, the biggest challenge is not finding the productive zones as much as finding the zones that are most conducive to effective stimulation. Optimizing hydraulic fracture treatment characteristics, zone-by-zone, often determines the degree to which the available resource is recovered. In practice, however, fracture treatment parameters are often selected that produce profitable wells but leave behind considerable hydrocarbon Previous HitresourcesNext Hit.

In low permeability reservoirs well placement decisions can have dramatic effects on field-wide reservoir drainage if stimulation patterns are not well understood. Previous HitUnconventionalNext Hit Previous HitresourcesNext Hit often begin development with a low drilling density and are down-spaced as reservoir understanding increases. Utilizing development drilling strategies that conform to the plethora of technical constraints while maintaining the option of efficient down-spaced drilling options in the future is particularly challenging. Often, Previous HitresourcesNext Hit are stranded and become impossible to economically recover at some future date.

This paper will show, via models and actual field results, how Previous HitunconventionalNext Hit resource developments, while pursing profitable wells, often do so at the expense of leaving considerable bypassed Previous HitresourcesNext Hit behind that will never be economic to recover. These decisions can result in sub-par overall economic performance for the operators utilizing this strategy. Some emerging technologies and workflows are discussed that enable more efficient exploitation of Previous HitunconventionalNext Hit tight gas and shale plays and maximize the ability to improve the recovery factors of most Previous HitunconventionalTop resource plays.

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90100©2009 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition 15-18 November 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil