Sequence Stratigraphy of the Woodford Shale and Application to Drilling and Production

Phillip Johnson
Cimarex

The completions learning curve for the Anadarko Woodford Shale has proven steep like any shale play; however, careful wellbore place-ment and stimulation technologies allow for economically successful wells. Initially, placing sand proved to be the primary problem in that a significant number of stages ended in screenouts upon proppant hitting the perforations. Careful placement of the wellbore in ‗brittle‘ layers proved to increase proppant placement but still allowed too many screenouts. A simple tweak to the job allowed for approxi-mately 90% job placement and nearly 100% job placement in the core of the play. That was just the beginning of the learning curve narrative in that stimulations continued to improve measured by EUR and/or initial rate; that is until the start infill drilling and the game changed once again. Fluid volumes, additives, etc., once again needed a second (or third) adjustment. The outcome was not trivial but instead is the difference between economic and uneconomic plays. The Anadarko Woodford Shale completions story has its twists and turns and one might have overheard heard an engineer blame the rock or even a geologist every now or then; the truth is teamwork between geologists and engineers are unlocking the completion secrets necessary to make the liquids rich Anadarko Woodford Shale a highly economic success.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90184 © AAPG Woodford Shale Forum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, April 11, 2013