What is it about?
A general assumption in unconventional development is that horizontal wells in close vertical proximity tend to interfere with each other, causing the ultimate recovery of each well to be diminished to the extent that their stimulated rock volume (SRV) overlaps. However, recent findings show that certain variations may result in beneficial acceleration of production without significantly affecting ultimate recoveries. We have observed cases where wells in close proximity show an increased recovery efficiency and acceleration without impact to EUR. This paper attempts to model 3 theories that could help explain this behavior and allow practitioners to leverage this results to improve field development efficiency.
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Why is it important?
The learnings from this study have the potential to add significant value in terms of return on investment (ROI) and net present value (NPV) to projects across the Permian Basin. This document provides a different perspective of well interference, showing that it could be another tool to improve reservoir production rather than a detriment of tight well spacing, as it is conventionally considered. It will be particularly useful for optimizing vertical and lateral spacing of unconventional wells in the Permian Basin.
Perspectives
Since the date of this publication, there have been several attempts, all showing positive results that mimic those analyzed and modeled in this publication. The concept of enhanced fracture complexity is introduced, and makes the analysts reimagine how they think of Unconventional Development. Until this publication, we always think of Unconventional reservoirs as a "poor conventional", and thus, we tend to think that de-spacing and minimizing interference between wells is the best approach. The Enhanced SRV model shows that if we can create enough fracture complexity, we can significantly improve production performance, and we can achieve that in a counterintuitive manner; by placing wells in close proximity, and managing the fracture initiation points, and propagation.
Santiago Rivera
Occidental Petroleum Corp
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Understanding the Advantages and Disadvantages of Unconventional Well Stacking and Interference, January 2023, American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG),
DOI: 10.15530/urtec-2023-3866237.
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