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Preliminary Technical Agenda  

Monday, 17 August

0830–1200

Session 1: Reservoir Characterization
Session Leader: Randy LaFollette, BJ
Session Co-leader: Jorge Manrique, Shell

Topics for discussion in Session 1 include information needed for optimum stimulation design and validation in different reservoir types, analytical tools and techniques available at present, and tools needed for the future.

Reservoir Data and Information

  • Required and desired information
  • Information that is not needed

Reservoir Sampling and Analysis

  • Rock and fluid samples; porosity and permeability measurement in very
    low permeability rocks
  • Rock-pore system characterization for assessment of potential completion/stimulation problems and clay protection needs
  • Rock analysis to assess proppant embedment and diagenesis issues

Reservoir Characterization Tools

  • How can seismic attributes help the completion engineer?
  • What wireline logs are most useful in tight gas sandstones and gas shales? What new logs do we need?
  • Technologies and techniques for building log-to-core algorithms: Reservoir modeling for completion/stimulation design and post-job validation; production simulation; geomechanical simulation

1330–1700

Session 2: Completion Strategy and Horizontal Well Architecture
Session Leader: Ray Ellis, OXY
Session Co-leader: David Mack, Marathon

Topics include:

Challenges of Stimulating Lenticular Formations

  • Treatment design and staging

Controlled Hydraulic Fracture Placement

  • Limited entry, solid diverting agents, focused stimulation, just-in-time perforating

Production Challenges

  • Produced water handling; how to handle individual intervals; underperforming zones; secondary or tertiary recovery.

Information to Maximize Success of Horizontal Wells

  • Up-front diagnostics; pilot wells; log suites; reservoir modeling; cores; azimuth

Tuesday, 18 August

0830–1200

Session 3: Fracturing Fluids and Proppants
Session Leader: John Bagzis, Chevron

Topics include:

Proppants
What will the next generations of proppants look like?

  • We need them to be both lighter and stronger and “smart” for data transmission purposes.
  • Can we create in-situ propping agents from chemical reactions?
  • Will proppants be spherically shaped, rod-shaped, or other shapes?
  • We need realistic prevention of proppant flowback using fibers, resin coatings, or other material.

Fracturing Fluids
What will be the next big breakthrough in fracturing fluids?

  • Is slickwater a panacea or a curse? Will the breakthrough come from crosslinked gels, linear gels, foam, micellar fluids, or some other fluid types?
  • We need to reduce or eliminate polymer residue and imbibition problems, recycle larger percentages of our recovered fracturing fluids, environmentally friendly fracturing fluids and additives.
  • Are surfactants and alcohols really necessary? What future government regulations are likely regarding fracturing fluids?

1830–2200

Session 4: Damage Prevention and Flowback
Session Leader: Mukul Sharma, University of Texas at Austin
Session Co-leader: Jorge Manrique, Shell

Fracture conductivity is critical to the productivity of unconventional gas wells. This session will deal with topics related to maximizing fracture cleanup during flowback.

Topics include:

  • Gel induced damage in fractures
  • Water blocking in low permeability formations
  • Condensate blocking in gas shales and tight gas sands
  • Fines induced damage in fractures: How important is it?
  • Frac fluids to minimize damage
  • Proppant flowback
  • Flowback strategies (forced closure vs. gradual flowback

Wednesday, 19 August

0830–1200

Session 5: Frac Design
Session Leader: David Mack, Marathon and John Bagzis, Chevron

This session focuses on the problems and issues around the design and implementation of the optimum fracture design in unconventional reservoirs. What are the important design considerations and what may become more important in the coming years?

Topics include:

  • What is an optimum fracture stimulation design and how does it differ from a conventional stimulation design?
  • How do we recognize stimulation best practices?
  • How do we recognize when the optimum stimulation design has been achieved?
  • Do we have a coming crisis with hydraulic fracturing and fracturing materials? Can these issues be resolved?
  • What are some fracture stimulation design and execution risks and risk mitigation strategies, now and in the future?
    • Vertical well applications
    • Multiple fractured horizontal well applications
    • Naturally fissured reservoir applications

1830–2200

Session 6: Frac Mapping
Session Leader: Larry Britt, NSI
Session Co-leader: Norm Warpinski, Pinnacle

This session will spotlight both the methods applied in fracture mapping and the results obtained in the different reservoir environments. It should include strategies for monitoring in these types of environments and issues associated with both monitoring and processing of the data.

Topics include:

Strategies

  • Single-well vs. multi-well monitoring; positioning of receivers and numbers of receivers and size of the array; minimizing noise

Issues

  • Velocity structure; uncertainty; data quality

Results

  • Multi-zone vertical well stimulations in lenticular tight gas sands
    • Height growth, length, Azimuth, zonal coverage, missed zones
  • Horizontal well stimulations in gas shales
    • Complexity, stimulated volume, simulfracs and zipper fracs, effectiveness of staging strategies
  • Engineering value and application
    • How is this information being used?
  • Future improvements and needs in mapping
    • Receivers, processing, other

Thursday, 20 August

0830–1200

Session 7: Post-Frac Appraisal and Fractured Well Performance
Session Leader: Jack Jones
Session Co-leader: Simon Chipperfield, Santos

This session will address characterizing the effectiveness of the placed stimulation and forward prediction of stimulated well performance.

Topics include:

  • DTS monitoring and real time BHP gauges—emphasizing the value of additional diagnostics data for completion quality
  • Standard data collection possibilities
    • Can PTA/RTA methods be used to characterized effective bulk parameters for design improvements and/or prediction? What is the role of traditional production data and standard surveillance?
  • The future of micro-seismic
  • Emphasizing integration with geophysical data; How do we carry micro-seismic results into predictive models or is translating the identified fracture pattern necessary? Can we do okay by just
    honoring the stimulated volume idea?
  • Pilot simulation modeling: How do we model complicated, fluvial, heterogeneous reservoirs?
    • How do we include the completion in this (vertical wells with multistages, horizontals with multiple fracs)?

1330–1700

Session 8: Water Management Relative to Hydraulic Fracturing and Hydraulic Fracturing Issues Involving NGO’s, Regulatory Bodies and the Public
Session Leader: Mark Layne, ALL
Session Co-leader: Jack Jones, BP

Management of scarce natural resources and the protection of those resources is a concern for those not only in the industry but also outside of the industry. With higher emphasis being placed on the use of water and the urbanization of the oil field, the need to manage those water resources available to the industry has become critical to the success of hydraulic fracturing.

  • Access to Water—What are the strategies for hydraulic fracturing
  • Produced water management strategies for disposal and reuse relevant to current shale gas plays

Public and Regulatory Issues

Hydraulic Fracturing is critical to the development of energy. With states such as Montana that contribute 90% of its current production to the use of this technology, understanding the technology in the public and government sectors and how it is perceived outside the industry is necessary for continuing its advancement.

Topics include:

  • Strategies relevant to addressing environmental groups, NGO’s, and water boards about concerns when using hydraulic fracturing. How do we combat misconceptions
  • Current industry outreach efforts to public and regulatory bodies to address water access needs and produced water concerns.
  • Efforts to create new NGO’s to address concerns being pushed by current environmental NGO’s.
    • Regulation and requirements relevant to fracturing fluid reporting
    • Fracture stage reporting
    • What may be required?
    • How to keep proprietary fluid makeup
    • Environmental concerns
    • What disposal options are available?
    • AOR requirements to create injection wells
    • Fracturing of injection wells