Not enough data to create a plot.
Try a different view from the menu above.
Results
From the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring in the Permian Basin to the Niobrara and Codell in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, lateral lengths of 10,000 ft or greater are becoming the norm in tight-oil resource plays (Rassenfoss 2022; Addison, 2021; S&P 2021). From a production standpoint, longer laterals equate to greater stimulated rock volume per wellbore. That means higher flow rates, but it can also introduce more dynamic behavior and steeper production declines. The extended-well trajectories are often accompanied by high dogleg severities, high gas/oil ratios (GORs), and sand and solids production (Whitfield 2023; S&P 2021). Efficiently accommodating all of these factors while cost-effectively managing natural declines over time can be a challenge for any single artificial lift method. However, the combination of gas lift and plunger lift technology gives operators a flexible option to optimize production beginning with initial peak flow rates at the start of production and extending all the way through to depletion. This “full life cycle” approach encompasses three distinct phases that collectively span the entire slope of the tight-oil well decline curve: - Gas lift in early to mid-life (from first production to ±300 B/D) - Plunger-assisted gas lift (PAGL) in the mid- to late-life plateau (from ±300 to ±100 B/D) - Plunger lift in late life (from ±100 B/D to last oil) An artificial lift approach leveraging gas lift, PAGL, and plunger lift at different points along the production timeline aggregately brings the key advantages of all three to bear in horizontal tight-oil wells, including - Gas lift’s ability to mimic natural reservoir flow, lifting fluids to surface by reducing the flowing tubing pressure and creating differential pressure between the reservoir and wellbore. Gas lift handles an array of production rates (up to 2,000-plus B/D) and well characteristics—including high GORs and solid content—and can adapt to rapidly changing conditions during early well life. - PAGL’s ability to increase reservoir drawdown, stabilize production, and reduce system surging as production diminishes to the point where gas lift starts to become inefficient in the mid-life phase. - Plunger lift’s ability to use pressure buildup below the plunger to carry accumulated fluids to surface at rates as low as a few B/D, requiring no external power source to surface the plunger. The plunger creates a “swabbing effect” as it passes through the tubing that helps draw fluids from perforated intervals while keeping tubing swept of paraffin, scale, asphaltene, sand, etc.
- North America > United States > Texas (0.50)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (0.36)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > DJ (Denver-Julesburg) Basin > Niobrara Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yeso Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yates Formation (0.99)
- (30 more...)
From the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring in the Permian Basin to the Niobrara and Codell in the Denver-Julesburg Basin, lateral lengths of 10,000 ft or greater are becoming the norm in tight-oil resource plays (Rassenfoss 2022; Addison, 2021; S&P 2021). From a production standpoint, longer laterals equate to greater stimulated rock volume per wellbore. That means higher flow rates, but it can also introduce more dynamic behavior and steeper production declines. The extended-well trajectories are often accompanied by high dogleg severities, high gas/oil ratios (GORs), and sand and solids production (Whitfield 2023; S&P 2021). Efficiently accommodating all of these factors while cost-effectively managing natural declines over time can be a challenge for any single artificial lift method.
- North America > United States > Wyoming (0.27)
- North America > United States > Texas (0.27)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (0.27)
- (3 more...)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > DJ (Denver-Julesburg) Basin > Niobrara Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yeso Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yates Formation (0.99)
- (29 more...)
High-Resolution Core Study Relating Chemofacies to Reservoir Quality: Examples from the Permian Wolfcamp XY Formation, Delaware Basin, Texas
Putri, Shaskia Herida (Colorado School of Mines) | Jobe, Zane (Colorado School of Mines) | Wood, Lesli J. (Colorado School of Mines) | Melick, Jesse (Colorado School of Mines) | French, Marsha (Colorado School of Mines) | Pfaff, Katharina (Colorado School of Mines)
Abstract The Wolfcamp and Bone Spring Formations are comprised of siliciclastic and carbonate sediment gravity flow deposits, including turbidites and debrites that were sourced from multiple uplifted areas and deposited in the Delaware Basin, Texas during the early-middle Permian (Early Leonardian, ∼285 Ma). Deep-water lobe deposits in these formations are primary unconventional reservoir targets in the North-central Delaware Basin of Texas. Despite numerous recent reservoir characterization studies in this area, integrated multi-scale core-based studies relating to reservoir quality are sparsely published. This research aims to provide a workflow to better predict source rock and reservoir distribution by integrating geochemistry and petrophysical data from this deep-water depositional system. Using high-resolution (1 cm), continuous X-ray fluorescence (XRF) data from 218 feet of core from the Wolfcamp XY interval, this study focuses on the controls that depositional processes and diagenesis impart on chemofacies. Unsupervised k-means clustering and principal component analysis on 17 XRF-derived elemental concentrations derive four chemofacies that characterize geochemical heterogeneity: (1) calcareous, (2) oxic-suboxic argillaceous, (3) anoxic argillaceous, and (4) detrital mudrock. Results indicate that vertical, event-bed-scale variations in XRF-based chemofacies accurately represent depositional facies changes, often matching cm-by-cm the human-described lithofacies. This research demonstrates the relationship of chemofacies to petrophysical properties (e.g., total organic carbon, porosity, and water saturation), which can be used for log-based reservoir prediction of the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring Formations in the Permian Basin, as well as for other mixed clastic-carbonate deep-water reservoirs around the world. Introduction Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate mudstone unconventional reservoirs contain complex sub-well-log-scale heterogeneity in mineralogical composition due to depositional process variability (Lazar et al., 2015; Comerio et al., 2020, Kvale et al., 2020; Ochoa et al., 2022). Moreover, these lithofacies are organized as repetitive meter-scale sedimentation units that are linked to depositional-element architectural and sequence stratigraphic evolution (Thompson et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2021). High-resolution core studies can help to capture fine-scale depositional units and diagenetic process (Baumgardner et al., 2014; Ochoa et al., 2022). Because it is difficult to visually observe the heterogeneity in mixed siliciclastic-carbonate mudstone cores, it is crucial to integrate quantitative petrophysical analyses with mineralogical and geochemical data to improve the accuracy of predictive models (Lazar et al., 2015; Ochoa et al., 2022).
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Mudrock (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline (1.00)
- Geophysics > Seismic Surveying (0.93)
- Geophysics > Borehole Geophysics (0.88)
- South America > Argentina > Patagonia > Neuquén > Neuquen Basin (0.99)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > Powder River Basin (0.99)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > Laramie Basin > Niobrara Formation (0.99)
- (55 more...)
Integration of regional gravity modeling, subsidence analysis, and source rock maturity data to understand the tectonic and hydrocarbon evolution of the Permian Basin, West Texas
Zhang, Hualing (University of Houston) | Mann, Paul (University of Houston) | Bird, Dale E. (University of Houston, Bird Geophysical) | Rudolph, Kurt (University of Houston, Rice University)
Abstract The Permian Basin of West Texas and southeast New Mexico is currently the most prolific oil-producing basin in the United States. This region experienced deformation and extreme rates of subsidence (up to 500 m/my), especially during the Late Paleozoic. To investigate the larger scale crustal geometry of the Permian Basin, its tectonic evolution, and the distribution of its most productive late Paleozoic source rocks, we have created regional 2D and 3D gravity models that incorporate density and lithologic controls from wireline logs, published seismic refractions, and regional cross sections. These gravity models better define a regional northeast-trending gravity low called the Abilene gravity minimum (AGM) that underlies the northern Permian Basin. We infer this feature to be underlain by a low-density assemblage of Precambrian granitic and metasedimentary rocks. Structural inversion from the gravity model shows that the top of the lower crust and the Moho is presently depressed beneath the AGM. Subsidence analysis defines five tectonic phases from Cambrian to recent with maximum subsidence during the main, late Paleozoic deformational phase resulting in deposition of sediments up to 2.4 km thick. We have determined that the geobody under the AGM acted as a zone of preferential weakness in a “broken foreland basin” setting that accommodated regional shortening related to the Marathon orogeny and to other coeval orogenies along the Sonoran margin and Nevadan margin. Our new regional map of the top basement defines the limits of deep basinal areas that may host the most productive and thermally mature, late Paleozoic source rock kitchens — some of which are localized in depocenters controlled in part by syncollisional, left-lateral strike-slip faults that align with the edges of the AGM. Our results show a deeper basement ranging from 5.5 to 6.2 km in the Delaware basin that predicts a broader zone of source rock thermal maturity.
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- Phanerozoic > Paleozoic > Permian > Cisuralian (0.68)
- Phanerozoic > Paleozoic > Permian > Guadalupian (0.46)
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics > Plate Tectonics (1.00)
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics > Compressional Tectonics > Fold and Thrust Belt (1.00)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Economic Geology > Petroleum Geology (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (0.46)
- North America > United States > Texas > Tobosa Basin (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yeso Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yates Formation (0.99)
- (48 more...)
Don't look now, but the United States rig count has inched up in recent months, and the driver has been the old reliable of onshore oil production, the Permian Basin of west Texas and New Mexico. While some observers might see the scenario as a simple case of drillers responding to the recovery of oil prices over the spring and summer, the fact that rig growth occurred chiefly in the Permian indicates there is more to the story. And along with a similar, smaller shift of gas rig activity toward the Marcellus and Utica basins in Pennsylvania and Ohio, the statistics suggest what the geographic footprint of an eventual, long-term recovery may look like in the US. The number of active oil rigs nationwide rose to 407 for the week ending on 2 September, according to Baker Hughes, up from 316 for the week of 27 May. Of the additional 91 rigs, 65 were activated in the Permian Basin.
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- North America > United States > Texas > Reeves County (0.30)
Abstract The Delaware and Midland Basins are multistacked plays with production being drawn from different zones. Of the various prospective zones in the Delaware Basin, the Bone Spring and Wolfcamp Formations are the most productive and thus are the most drilled zones. To understand the reservoirs of interest and identify the hydrocarbon sweet spots, a 3D seismic inversion project was undertaken in the northern part of the Delaware Basin in 2018. We have examined the reservoir characterization exercise for this dataset in two parts. In addition to a brief description of the geology, we evaluate the challenges faced in performing seismic inversion for characterizing multistacked plays. The key elements that lend confidence in seismic inversion and the quantitative predictions made therefrom are well-to-seismic ties, proper data conditioning, robust initial models, and adequate parameterization of inversion analysis. We examine the limitations of a conventional approach associated with these individual steps and determine how to overcome them. Later work will first elaborate on the uncertainties associated with input parameters required for executing rock-physics analysis and then evaluate the proposed robust statistical approach for defining the different lithofacies.
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- Phanerozoic > Paleozoic > Permian (1.00)
- Phanerozoic > Paleozoic > Carboniferous > Mississippian (0.46)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Geomechanics (1.00)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Mudrock > Shale (0.47)
- Geophysics > Seismic Surveying > Seismic Modeling > Velocity Modeling > Seismic Inversion (1.00)
- Geophysics > Seismic Surveying > Seismic Interpretation (1.00)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yeso Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yates Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Wolfcamp Formation (0.99)
- (57 more...)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Seismic processing and interpretation (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Seismic modeling (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization > Exploration, development, structural geology (1.00)
Data Analysis of the Permian Basin Wolfcamp and Bone Spring Leads to Better Understanding of Production Sweetspots
Sorkhabi, Rasoul (Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah) | Panja, Palash (Energy & Geoscience Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah)
Abstract The Wolfcamp and Bone Spring formations of Lower Permian age in the Permian superbasin of west Texas and southeast New Mexico have contributed greatly to the US shale oil revolution in the recent decade. These formations were deposited in a rapidly subsiding basin at the southern margin of the North America craton during collisional tectonics in Late Paleozoic times. Here we analyze production data from nearly 4,800 horizontal wells drilled into Welfcamp and Bone Spring to constrain petroleum accumulations. The data indicate a bimodal distribution of oil and gas occurrence in Wolfcamp suggesting the migration of oil and gas from deeper (∼11,000 ft.) to shallower levels (4,000-6,000 ft.) in the same formation. Oil accumulation in Bone Spring is concentrated at the depths of 11,000-7,000 ft. with some intervals being more productive mimicking the alternating position of shaley and sandy layers in this formation. High gas-to-oil ratios are found at shallower levels for both formations. This study offers an application of reverse engineering to petroleum system analysis and supports the concept of intra-formational migration in the tight (shale) oil formations.
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- Geology > Structural Geology > Tectonics (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Geochemistry (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Economic Geology > Petroleum Geology (1.00)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Mudrock > Shale (0.61)
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (1.00)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- North America > United States > Texas > Tobosa Basin (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yeso Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yates Formation (0.99)
- (64 more...)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs > Shale oil (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs > Shale gas (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Characterization (1.00)
- Management > Energy Economics > Unconventional resource economics (1.00)
Abstract The story of the US shale revolution is well known. Hydraulic fracturing techniques were executed by Mitchell Energy in vertical Barnett Play gas wells in the early 2000's, vertical wells matured into horizontal multi-stage frac wells, and one of the largest land leasing campaigns in history exploded as operators chased high gas prices. As the natural gas market became saturated, the industry started to strip the natural gas liquids (NGLs) out of the gas stream to take advantage of the ever-rising oil pricing. When gas prices tumbled in 2011, and oil prices climbed north of $100/bbl, the industry looked to the liquid rich/oil plays, such as the Williston Basin, the DJ Basin, and the Permian Basin. The turning point came in November 2014 when oil prices fell rapidly. As prices bottomed out at $22/bbl in February 2015, the industry saw a large exodus of operators and capital from the gas rich plays around the US to the liquid rich Permian. The Permian proved to be the haven for oil and gas development with its multiple pay zone targets, high EURs, low break-even costs, friendly regulatory environment, and access to markets. The rush for land, once again ensued, with the hope of an oil price rebound and promise of high returns to capital investors. The rapid ramp up in activity from 2015–2018 did not come without challenges as it put strain on the availability of services and people, access to pipelines and markets, and access to frac sand/water. This drove up costs and resulted in mixed results for many companies. In addition, operators soon saw that with higher-than-expected gas and water production, expenses to manage these by-products sky-rocketed. Water handling and disposal became a huge portion of operating expenses and with gas export facilities at full capacity, companies started to flare gas in large volumes. Associated gas became a waste product, causing operators needed remove the gas and associated liquids from the revenue stream, and in some cases pay a high cost for flaring permits, rather than shutting in wells. By 2019, a shift in the investment community was well underway. The days of growth-focused investment were coming to an end, and investors wanted to see returns on their investments. As prices still hovered around the $55/bbl range, investors were getting anxious to recover their capital invested in the industry, and throughout 2019 operators all talked about the ability to generate free cash flow. This paper analyses the free cash flow for three key unconventional basins across the US and discusses the associated economic impacts in each basin.
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > North Dakota (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- (2 more...)
- Geology > Petroleum Play Type > Unconventional Play > Shale Play (0.40)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Mudrock > Shale (0.36)
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Government > Regional Government > North America Government > United States Government (0.97)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > Laramie Basin > Niobrara Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Wolfcamp Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Midland Basin (0.99)
- (42 more...)
Abstract Over the past 5 years there has been a huge increase in the production of crude oil from unconventional shale plays. During this time the major unconventional plays in the USA (e.g. Permian Basin, Anadarko Basin, Eagle Ford) have become some of the world's largest oil producers. However, unlike in ‘conventional’ exploitation, the target zones in Unconventional systems are generally the source rocks themselves and the wells are horizontal laterals requiring stimulation via hydraulic fracturing. In order to maximize hydrocarbon production operators have developed various well stacking methods, all of which require some form of monitoring to ensure spacing is optimized and fluid production is not being ‘stolen’ from adjacent formations, thereby reducing production potential in associated wells. This necessity – amongst other geochemical considerations – has resulted in the expansion of ‘production allocation’ and ‘time lapse geochemistry’ methods, initially developed for conventional systems, to be applied to these unconventional plays. However, direct applicability of this method to unconventional systems is not straightforward and numerous considerations and limitations need to be taken into account, foremost of which would be ‘what defines your end-members?’ In this paper we will outline the results of a case study from the Delaware Basin, for which we have both core material and produced fluids. The produced fluids cover 4 rounds of sampling spread across a 12 month time period and include target zones from the Bone Spring Shale (2) down to the Wolfcamp C Formation with equivalent core to compare against the target zones. The analytical program was consistent across all rounds and includes bulk, gas chromatography and biomarker methods (both traditional and non-traditional). The objective of the paper is to highlight the power and flexibility of both maximizing data collection methods and approaching the questions from a big data, statistical standpoint. Emphasis will be placed upon the considerations which must be made when designing and implementing a ‘reservoir geochemistry’ program in an unconventional play and how the approach outlined provides robust and applicable data on fluid relationships and statistically 'significant' changes through time.
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Geochemistry (1.00)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Economic Geology > Petroleum Geology (0.49)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Mudrock > Shale (0.34)
- Geology > Petroleum Play Type > Unconventional Play > Shale Play (0.34)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yeso Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Yates Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > Permian Basin > Wolfcamp Formation (0.99)
- (35 more...)
The Influence of Development Target Depletion on Stress Evolution and Well Completion of Upside Target in the Permian Basin
Pei, Yanli (The University of Texas at Austin) | Yu, Wei (The University of Texas at Austin / Sim Tech LLC) | Sepehrnoori, Kamy (The University of Texas at Austin) | Gong, Yiwen (Sim Tech LLC / The Ohio State University) | Xie, Hongbin (Sim Tech LLC) | Wu, Kan (Texas A&M University)
Abstract The extensive depletion of the development target has triggered the demand for infill drilling in the upside target of multilayer unconventional reservoirs. To optimize the hydraulic fracturing design of newly drilled wells, we need to investigate the stress changes in the upside target induced by parent-well production. In this work, an integrated parent-child workflow is presented to model the spatial-temporal stress evolution and propose the optimal development strategy for the upside target using a data set from the Permian Basin. The stress dependence of matrix permeability and fracture conductivity is determined based on available experimental data and incorporated in our reservoir simulation with the aid of an embedded discrete fracture model (EDFM). With calibrated reservoir properties from history matching of an actual well in the development target (i.e., 3 BS Sand), we run the finite element method (FEM) based geomechanics simulator to predict the 3D spatial-temporal evolution of the local principal stresses. A displacement discontinuity method (DDM) hydraulic fracture model is then applied to simulate the multi-cluster fracture propagation in the upside target (i.e., L2BSSh) with the updated heterogeneous stress field. Numerical results indicate that stress field redistribution associated with parent-well production not only occurs within the development target but also vertically propagates to the upside target. A smaller parent-child horizontal offset induces a severer deviation of child-fractures towards the parent wellbore, resulting in more substantial well interference and less desirable oil and gas production. The parent-child fracture overlapping ratio in our study is in 0.6 ~ 0.8 for the 400 ft horizontal offset and 0.2 ~ 0.5 for the 600 ft horizontal offset. Varying the parent-child vertical offset gives the same trend as we change the horizontal offset. But with a delayed infill time, placing child-well in different layers causes more significant variation in the ultimate recovery. Moreover, infill operations at an earlier time are less affected by parent-well depletion because of the more homogeneous stress state. The candidate locations to implement infill-wells are suggested in the end for different infill timing by co-simulation of the parent-child production. With the reservoir-geomechanics-fracture model, this work provides a general workflow to optimize the child-well completion in multilayer unconventional reservoirs. The conclusions drawn from this study are of guiding significance to the subsequent development in the Permian Basin.
- North America > United States > Texas (1.00)
- North America > United States > New Mexico (1.00)
- South America > Argentina > Neuquén Province > Neuquén (0.46)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Geomechanics (1.00)
- Geology > Petroleum Play Type > Unconventional Play > Shale Play (0.94)
- South America > Argentina > Patagonia > Neuquén > Neuquen Basin > Vaca Muerta Shale Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Wyoming > Laramie Basin > Niobrara Formation (0.99)
- North America > United States > Texas > West Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Eagle Ford Shale Formation (0.99)
- (41 more...)