Summary
This paper presents the evolution of completion practices and fracture
stimulation that has taken place in the Wild River area of Canada over the past
2 years. Since being acquired in March 2001, 67 wells have been drilled and
completed in the field, which is characterized by multiple stacked, tight gas
reservoirs. During that time, seven distinct completion phases can be
identified, each targeting either a reduction in the total capital expenditure
or enhancement of production performance by fracture-stimulation optimization.
On the capital front, a progression of completion tools occurred including
standard bridge plugs, proprietary permanent frac-packer systems, and composite
bridge plugs. Focus areas for production performance improvement included fluid
systems, proppant selection, perforating strategy, energizing fluids, and
third-party quality control. As a result of this evolution, the average
completion cost per zone has been reduced by approximately 40% and the average
initial production rate has been increased by approximately 150%.
Introduction
With the decline of conventional North American gas fields, more exploration
and development focus is being directed toward unconventional sources such as
tight gas reservoirs. Usually, higher capital expenditure is required for the
development of the reserves in these tight reservoirs than for conventional
reservoirs. In a competing capital environment, the metrics for the
unconventional plays have to compete against the metrics from the lower cost
conventional plays. Therefore, any reduction in capital associated with
development of unconventional reserves is very important. The application of
completion methodology, completion tools, and fracture-stimulation technology
can impact the overall completion costs and associated production performance.
This can improve the metrics of developing these reserves.
The Wild River field is a tight gas play that is characterized by multiple
stacked Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs across an approximately vertical
section of 2,700 ft. Initial exploration wells were drilled in the field in the
1960s, targeting deeper Devonian reservoirs. Cretaceous exploration commenced
in the 1980s with a number of wells successfully drilled and completed in the
tight gas formations. However, larger-scale development did not occur until the
late 1990s because of the lack of midstream infrastructure in the area. The
majority of the development of this field has occurred since 2001 resulting
from the availability of processing and midstream capacity and strong commodity
pricing.
Anadarko acquired the acreage in the Wild River field in early 2001. Since
the acquisition, development activity has been steady, with 67 wells drilled
and completed at the time of this writing. The overall completion strategy
evolved through seven phases during this period. This evolution of phases was
primarily driven by an effort to reduce the overall completion costs while
increasing both production and reserves.
© 2006. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
25 May 2004
- Revised manuscript received:
12 September 2005
- Manuscript approved:
2 October 2005
- Version of record:
20 March 2006
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