VII Enhanced Multilateral Well Performance This chapter will be about well interventions in multilaterals, focusing on the unique

aspects, such as access problems. A. Performance diagnosis 1. well testing 2. production logging B. Coiled tubing operations C. Well stimulation Introduction
A non-fractured horizontal well is often not economicall attracti!e in reser!oirs where !ertical well are fractured. In man areas the latter are less e"pensi!e to complete and# with proper design# the pro!ide at least as good# and usuall better# well performance than horizontal wells. A considerable problem with horizontal wells is that the are rarel properl completed and$or stimulated. %ne wa # for a horizontal well to be potentiall more attracti!e than a fractured !ertical well# is for itself to be h draulicall fractured. &or almost all petroleum engineering applications# at depths where producing formations are found# the stress field leads to a h draulic fracture that is !ertical and normal to the minimum horizontal stress. 'herefore the fracture direction and azimuth become important considerations in fracturing horizontal wells and the affect the well orientation. 'here are two ob!ious limiting cases( 1) 'he well is drilled along the e"pected fracture tra*ector + this is the longitudinal configuration ,which we ha!e studied in the past) 2) 'he well is drilled normal to the e"pected fracture tra*ector . In this second case transverse h draulic fractures can be generated. &or trans!erse fractures intersecting a horizontal well it is possible to generate multiple fractures with proper zone isolation.

1. &racturing horizontal laterals

'he flow configuration in a trans!erse fracture intersecting a horizontal well generates an additional pressure drop which can be substantial. %b!iousl # one trans!erse fracture intersecting a horizontal well cannot deli!er the same performance as a fractured !ertical well. -ultiple trans!erse fractures are essential to ma.e this configuration attracti!e. 'hus# the /uestion that needs to be answered and /uantif is the impact of multiple trans!erse fractures compared with the base case of a fractured !ertical well. What differentiate oil from gas reser!oirs are the turbulence effects# often dominating the performance of a gas well and which are negligible in an oil well. 'his difference leads to a distinguishing performance between oil and gas wells. 0ince the inception of fracturing horizontal wells in the late 11234s# there ha!e been se!eral cases that ha!e been reported in the literature. &or e"ample# in the 5ost 6ills 7iatomite in California# a greatl impro!ed production response was reported in horizontal wells when the were h draulicall fractured 1. In the upper Behari ia reser!oir in 8g pt which is a thin and low permeabilit la er# fractured horizontal wells were completed with success 2. 'he application of fractured horizontal wells in gas production was also reported in Australia 9. Because the fracture orientation *ust immediatel awa from the well is not affected b human actions there are two ob!ious limiting cases( 1) the well is drilled along the e"pected fracture tra*ector + this is the longitudinal configuration. 2) 'he well is drilled normal to the e"pected fracture tra*ector . In this second case a transverse h draulic fracture can be generated 9# :# ;. &or the longitudinal fracture configuration# it has been shown that a longitudinall fractured horizontal well ma be attracti!e in relati!el higher-permeabilit reser!oirs <# =. 6owe!er# operationall # the re/uired well azimuth ma be /uite difficult to drill and to be maintained in a stable condition to be subse/uentl fractured. In the -c5ure shale of the >ose field in Central California 2# a longitudinal fracture was intended to be generated along the lateral length of horizontal wells. But the actual fracturing pro!ed comple" with :;? of the intended longitudinal fractures being trans!erse and 9;? of the intended trans!erse fractures being longitudinal with the remainder ending up as horizontal fractures. Although the original goal of

creating longitudinal fractures was not achie!ed# trans!erse fractures pro!ed better in production than longitudinal fractures. 'he performance of a longitudinal fracture has been compared to the performance of a fractured !ertical well and a trans!ersel fractured horizontal well b @illegas et al.<# @al.A and 8conomides= and 0oliman et al. 1# 13. 'he found that in the case of e/ual fracture length and e/ual conducti!it # the performances of a fractured !ertical well and a longitudinall fractured horizontal well are almost identical. 'he also found that for the same fracture !olume# a set of trans!erse fractures outperforms a longitudinal fracture. Because a longitudinal fracture is similar to that of a fractured !ertical well# the e"isting solution for !ertical well fractures can be applied to a longitudinal fracture in a horizontal well ;# 11. Almost all of the reported applications of fracturing of horizontal wells in the industr are trans!erse fractures. 0oliman et al. 12 discussed the geomechanics aspect of multiple fracturing of horizontal well. 'he concluded that if the well had been drilled at an angle to the ma"imum stress or the perforated inter!al is fairl long# multiple trans!erse fractures ma be created or the trans!erse fracture ma follow a comple" path. A special techni/ue has been reported to effecti!el create multiple trans!erse fractures in horizontal wells. 0e!eral horizontal completion techni/ues ha!e been utilized in the Barnett 0hale of Borth 'e"as which is an ultra low permeabilit reser!oir to obtain commercial production19. 'he techni/ues include single and multiple stage treatments with multiple perforation clusters in uncemented casing and multiple stage treatments performed in cemented perforated casing. 'he treatments can be mapped with microseismic and tilt sensors to understand the created fracture geometr for !arious completion designs. As for the optimum number of fractures intersecting a horizontal well# 0oliman et al.1# 11 concluded that si" trans!erse fractures ma represent the optimum number for a 2:-months pro*ect life. But if factors such as the cost of fracturing and the ris. in!ol!ed in creating an e"tra fracture are ta.en into account# the optimum number# based on benefit$cost ratio# ma be onl four. 'he flow configuration in a trans!erse fracture intersecting a horizontal well can be thought as in &ig. 1. Assume the horizontal well is in the !ertical center of a reser!oir of thic.ness h. We can then en!ision a region of radius h/2. %utside the fracture the flow from the reser!oir into the fracture is linear+ inside the fracture the flow is con!erging radial :. 'his combination of flows results in an additional pressure drop which# in the tradition of petroleum production engineering# can be accounted for b a s.in effect# denoted as sc.

Figure 1 One transverse fracture intersecting a horizontal well -u.her*ee and 8conomides ,1111) ha!e de!eloped an e"pression to calculate sc1:.

sc =

kh h Dln, ) C kf w 2rw 2

,1)

where k is the formation permeabilit , h is the thic.ness# kf is the proppant-pac. permeabilit # rw is the well radius and w is the propped fracture width ,which can be obtained b using the Enified &racture 7esign approach.1;). In the de!elopment of 8/.1# there was an important assumption about the flow in the h draulicall fractured wells. It was assumed that the flow was from the reser!oir into the fracture and then from the fracture into the wellbore. 'he remaining part of the well# perforated or not perforated# was assumed to contribute negligible flow. In other words# the produced fluid was assumed to enter the wellbore onl through the fractures. In all of our studies# this assumption is also applied. With sc calculated from 8/.1# the dimensionless producti!it inde" of a trans!erse fracture intersecting a horizontal well JDTH can be obtained using 8/. 2.

J DTH =

1 , 1 JD ) + sc
,2)

where JD is the dimensionless producti!it inde" of the fractured !ertical well. %b!iousl # one trans!erse fracture intersecting a horizontal well cannot deli!er the same performance as a fractured !ertical well. A wa to soften the problem# loo.ing at 8/. 1# especiall for high-permeabilit formations# is b increasing the kfw product# i.e.# performing tip screenout ,'0%) treatments ,larger width) and$or b using high-/ualit proppants ,larger proppant-pac. permeabilit ). It is ob!ious that multiple trans!erse fractures intersecting a horizontal well are essential to ma.e this configuration attracti!e ,see &ig. 2).

Figure2 Multiple transverse fractures intersecting a horizontal well 'hus# the /uestion is what is the impact of multiple trans!erse fractures compared with the base case of a fractured !ertical wellF We define the 8/ui!alent Bumber of !ertical wells# ! as the ratio of the dimensionless producti!it inde" of a trans!ersel fractured horizontal well JDTH to the dimensionless producti!it inde" of a fractured !ertical well JD .

! =

J DTH JD

,9)

Wei1< presented a stud for the trans!erse fracturing of both oil and gas wells. 0ome important findings are shown below. 'able 1 presents a comparison between the !ertical well JD and horizontal well JDTH and ! for a range of proppant pac. permeabilities# kf . 'he mass of proppant in all fractures remains constant. It is clear that for relati!el low permeabilit reser!oirs the !alue of ! is relati!el high but it becomes smaller with increasing reser!oir permeabilit . 6owe!er# with increasing proppant pac. permeabilit the !alue of ! increases rather substantiall . a!le 1 "omparison of vertical well JDV and horizontal well JDTH and X for a range of kf 1< kf =6,000 md k md 1 5 25 50 100 JDV 0.404 0.306 0.246 0.223 0.208 JDTH 0.256 0.158 0.092 0.066 0.051 X 0.633 0.516 0.376 0.298 0.249 kf =60,000 md JDV 0.94 0.59 0.40 0.35 0.31 JDTH 0.829 0.494 0.306 0.253 0.210 X 0.882 0.829 0.758 0.717 0.667 kf =600,000 md JDV 1.314 0.96 0.685 0.562 0.472 JDTH 1.29 0.903 0.581 0.462 0.374 X 0.982 0.941 0.848 0.821 0.792

Wei4s wor. for oil wells resulted in a number of findings( 1. Proppant-pac. permeabilit and proppant mass are !er important factors on the effecti!eness of trans!erse fractures intersecting a horizontal well. Whate!er the formation permeabilit is# choosing better proppant and using larger masses of proppant are attracti!e.

2. 'o ma.e the trans!erse fracture configuration attracti!e# multiple trans!erse fractures intersecting a horizontal well are necessar . 9. 'he number of zones is b far the most sensiti!e factors that affects the e/ui!alent number of !ertical wells. 7i!iding the drainage area b a number of treatments# increases the pseudostead state producti!it inde" to a considerabl large !alue# and in lower permeabilit reser!oirs this !alue e"ceeds the number of treatments# e.g.# for 1 md# : trans!erse treatments result in almost = e/ui!alent !erticall fractured wells. &or gas wells# the distinguishing feature is turbulence. Wei1< performed a series of studies# the first highlights of which are presented in 'able 2. a!le 2 #esults for kf $%&&'&&& md single transverse fracture in gas well kf =600,000 md, 150,000 lbm mass, single transverse fracture k w md JD JDTH (in. sc kfe 1 0.23 0.0650 0.31 10.98 471 5 0.179 0.0219 0.72 40.05 278 25 0.141 0.0043 1.35 223.24 133 50 0.13 0.0023 1.89 422.04 100.5 100 0.121 0.0013 2.7 771.19 77 What is clear from 'able 2# the producti!it inde"es of trans!ersel fractured horizontal wells in gas reser!oirs are unacceptabl small# compared to those of !ertical wells e!en in 1-md reser!oirs. 'he reason is that in these reser!oirs the fractured horizontal wells suffer not onl from the cho.e effects but also form considerabl increased turbulence effects. With much smaller permeabilities the results are far more palatable as shown in 'able 9. In 'able 9 JD is the dimensionless producti!it inde" in which the con!erging s.in factor sc is not ta.en into account. JDTH is the dimensionless producti!it inde" of the trans!erse fracture and JD is the dimensionless producti!it inde" of a fractured !ertical well. a!le ( #esults for kf $ %&&&&& md proppant kf =600,000 md, re=660 ft, !ingle transverse fracture, 150,000 lbm mass. k md 0.01 0.05 0.1 0.5 1.0 JDV 1.26 1.28 1.16 0.87 0.723 JD 0.888 0.732 0.565 0.281 0.232 JDTH 0.875 0.619 0.443 0.125 0.061 kfe 6218 1706 1436 669 473 w 0.16 0.19 0.23 0.27 0.32 sc 0.016 0.247 0.485 4.43 10.59 X 0.695 0.484 0.382 0.144 0.093

While the ultimate arbitrator must be an economic comparison for both oil and gas wells# for the latter it is generall concluded that the trans!erse fracturing of horizontal laterals cannot be attracti!e for an permeabilit larger than 3.; md and perhaps considerabl smaller.

7.

2. matri" stimulation G fluid placement Water control

#EFE#E)"E*

1. 8manuele# -. A.# -inner# W. A.# Wei*ers# 5.# Broussard# 8. H.# Ble!ens# 7.-. and 'a lor. B.'.( IA case 6istor ( Completion and 0timulation of 6orizontal Wells with -ultiple 'rans!erse 6 draulic &ractures in the 5ost 6ills 7iatomite#J Paper 0P8 :<119# 1112. 2. 8irafie# 8. A.# Wattenbarger# >. A.( IComprehensi!e 8!aluation of 6orizontal Wells with 'rans!erse 6 draulic &ractures in the Epper Bahari ia >eser!oir#J Paper 0P8 9==;1# 111=. 9. Crosb # 7.K.# Lang# M.# and >ahman# 0.0.( I'rans!ersel &ractured 6orizontal Wells( A 'echnical Appraise of Kas Production in Australia#J Paper 0P8 ;3319# 1112. :. 8conomides# -.H.# 6ill# A.7. and 8hlig-8conomides# C.A.( Petroleum Production *+stem' Prentice 6all# Bew Herse # 111:. ;. 0oliman# -.L.# and Boonen# P.( I>e!iew of &racturing 6orizontal Wells 'echnolog #J Paper 0P8 9<221# 111=. <. @illegas# -.8.# Wattenbarger# >.A.# @al.A# P. and 8conomides# -.H.( NPerformance of 5ongitudinall &ractured 6orizontal Wells in 6igh-Permeabilit Anisotropic &ormations#N Paper 0P8 9<:;9 # 111<. =. @al.A# P. and 8conomides# -.H.( NPerformance of a 5ongitudinall &ractured 6orizontal Well#N "#$J ,-arch 111<)# 11-11. 2. -inner# W.A.# Kanong# B.5.# 7emetrius 0.5. and Wright# C.A.( I>ose &ield( 0urface 'ilt -apping 0hows Comple" &racture Krowth in 2;334 5aterals Completed with Encemented 5iners#J Paper 0P8 29;39# 2339. 1. 0oliman# -.L.# 6unt# H.5. and Azari# -.( I&racturing 6orizontal Wells in Kas >eser!oirs#J Paper 0P8 9;2<3# 111<. 13. 0oliman# -.L.# 6unt# H.5.# Azari# -. and Chen# C.C.( I7esign and Anal sis of &racturing 6orizontal Wells in Kas >eser!oirs#J Paper 0P8 9;9:9# 111<. 11. 0oliman# -.L.# 6unt# H.5. and -ehdi# Azari.( I&racturing 6orizontal Wells in Kas >eser!oirs#J Paper 0P8 ;131<# 1111. 12. 0oliman# -.L.# 7a!id Adams( IKeo-echanics Aspect of -ultiple &racturing of 6orizontal Wells and @ertical WellsJ Paper 0P8 2<112# 233:. 19. &isher# -.O.# 6einze# H.>.# 6arris# H.>.# 7a!idson# B.-.# Wright# C.A. and 7unn# O.P.( I%ptimization 6orizontal Completion 'echni/ues in the Barrnett 0hale Esing -icroseismic &racture -apping#J Paper 0P8 133;1# 233:. 1:. -u.her*ee# 6.# 8conomides# -. H.( IA parametric Comparison of 6orizontal and @ertical Well Performance#J Paper 0P8 12939# 1111. 1;. 8conomides# -.H.# %ligne # >.8.# @al.A( ,nified Fracture -esign# %rsa Press# 6ouston# 2332. 1<. Wei# L.( ransverse .+draulic Fractures from a .orizontal Well' -0 'hesis# Eni!ersit of 6ouston# 233;.