Focus on Sweet Spots in Shale Reservoirs Results in Enhanced Productivity

Khaled H. Hashmy
Weatherford Petroleum Consulting

Stimulations by hydraulic fracturing to obtain commercial production rates of hydrocarbons are routine in horizontal wells drilled in shale reservoirs. The effectiveness of the stimulations is likely to improve considerably when the stimulations are focused on sweet spots with improved reservoir properties. A series of services, including Advanced Mud Gas Extraction/ Detection; well site measurements of XRF, XRD, FTRI and Pyrolysis on cuttings; openhole wireline acquired with special deployment techniques; LWD Spectral GR, LWD Azimuthal GR, and LWD Azimuthally Focused Sonic can aid the operator in determining zones with enhanced reservoir properties along the lateral and enable the operator to tailor frac treatments to optimize the effectiveness of the stimulation. The LWD data are obtained in real time, and most the measurements on cuttings are available in near real time, 20-30 minutes after each sample is collected, thus offering the possibility of taking corrective action should the well deviate from the planned trajectory or if there is need to account for changes in lithology along the trajectory. To highlight the efficacy of such approaches, field examples are presented where these services were used individually or in combination.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90179©2013 AAPG Geosciences Technology Workshop, Houston, Texas, August 6-7, 2013