SPE 133985

Quantifying the Effects of Well Type and Hydraulic Fracture Selection

on Recovery for Various Reservoir Permeability Using a Numerical
Reservoir Simulator
R.F. Shelley, E. Lolon, and B. Dzubin, SPE, StrataGen Engineering, and M. Vennes, SPE, El Paso Exploration
and Production

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Florence, Italy, 19–22 September 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed
by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or
members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is
restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
The industry is faced with the task of producing hydrocarbons from increasingly tighter reservoir rock including ultra low
permeability sand and shale. As a consequence, the selection of an appropriate well type and fracture stimulation design is
becoming even more critical to project success. The purpose of this paper is to provide some clarity by providing a general
understanding about the effects of well type selection and hydraulic fracturing on hydrocarbon recovery for various reservoir
permeability scenarios. Well types modeled include vertical, stimulated vertical, horizontal, axial stimulated horizontal and
transverse stimulated horizontal with variations in compartment length and effective fracture length. This information has proven
useful in the evaluation and planning of moderate to low to ultra low permeability well projects.
The summaries that will be presented in this paper are a compilation of the results from numerous simulator runs for gas, black
oil and gas condensate cases. These simulator runs included sensitivities on well type and permeability in order to compare
recovery and production. Important conclusions pertaining to the recovery of hydrocarbons from ultra low permeability reservoirs
and shale are made. In addition the obvious conclusion about the increasing difficulty of recovering hydrocarbons from lower
permeability rock, a primary conclusion is that as reservoir permeability decreases, proper well type selection and effective
hydraulic fracture stimulation design become much more crucial. The conclusions also show that for a given permeability,
obtaining significant recovery of oil can be a much more difficult problem than with that of dry gas. These conclusions are
supported by Bakken and Barnett Shale case histories which are included in this publication.

Background
Commercial extraction of oil and gas from reservoir rock requires a multi-domain, reservoir-specific solution. In the past, most
reservoirs were of high quality and required only wellbore contact for economic production. However, today, many wells are being
planned for completion in poor-quality reservoir rock in which traditional approaches to well design and completion result in
marginal production. These poor-quality rocks include not only ultra-low permeability sandstones and shale, but also higher-
permeability rock, such as gas-condensate reservoirs, which experience significant relative-permeability effects over the life of a
well project.
Economic success in poorer-quality reservoirs requires changing well-construction objectives from drilling and completing for
a low cost, to creating the necessary connectivity into the target reservoir. This shift involves placing primary importance on
devising effective strategies and methods to create the needed stimulated area and/or stimulated reservoir volume. This means that
issues related to hydraulic-fracture effectiveness and other formation-stimulation methodologies must be made of primary
importance in well and project decisions. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general understanding to support the paradigm
shift required for successful exploitation of low-permeability reservoirs.
2 SPE 133985

Modeling Strategy
Depending on reservoir permeability, the type of well drilled and its stimulation design can have a dramatic effect on the flow
of fluids to a wellbore. The purpose of this study is to quantify, in a general way, these effects and the significance that other well
decisions can have on productivity. Listed next is the modeling strategy.

• Choose an appropriate 3-D, 3-phase, 4-component numerical reservoir simulator to model production outcomes (Pacheco
et al. 2009; Ansah et al. 2006; Guglielmo et al. 2005).
• Fix reservoir volume (thickness, porosity, water saturation, drainage area, pore pressure, etc.).
• Select parameters to evaluate effect on production.
o Dry gas—well/frac type and permeability.
o Oil—well/frac type and permeability.
o Gas condensate—well/frac type and permeability.
• Model the gas and oil production for the various well types and frac conditions and summarize results.
• Support modeling results with case histories.

Dry Gas Reservoir—Well Type and Completion Modeling

It is well-established that hydraulic fracturing can significantly increase production from dry gas reservoirs. This result can be
attributed to fracturing through near-wellbore damage in the case of high-permeability or expedited recovery in lower-permeability
rock. However, economic recovery of gas from ultralow-permeability rock presents a new challenge. Table 1 contains a summary
of reservoir properties in which all the parameters, with the exception of permeability, are fixed. As can be seen, permeability
ranges from 0.5 to 0.0005 mD. The generally accepted definition of a low-permeability gas reservoir is 0.1 mD or below. So, the
0.0005 mD permeability is almost three orders of magnitude below this definition. The fracture half-lengths and conductivity are
selected based on guidelines developed from hydraulic-fracture modeling and post-frac evaluation of vertical wells based on
permeability. Note that the 0.5 mD permeability has the shortest frac length at 125 ft, and the 0.0005 mD cases have the longest
fracture half-length at 1,000 ft. Experience has shown the 125-ft frac length characteristics with 1,280 mD-ft conductivity are
achievable with the use of a conventional crosslinked frac fluid placing moderately high proppant concentrations, while the 1,000-
ft fracture half-length with 20 mD-ft conductivity is the equivalent of a large stimulated reservoir volume achieved with a
sand/water frac-type treatment placing low proppant concentrations.

Table 1―Gas Reservoir and Hydraulic-Fracture Modeling Parameters

k, mD Pay, ft A, acres φ, % Sw , % Xf, ft hf, ft wkf, mD-ft Cr

0.5 100 160 6 20 125 100 1280 6.5

0.05 100 160 6 20 250 100 320 8.2
0.005 100 160 6 20 500 100 80 10.2
0.0005 100 160 6 20 1000 100 20 12.7

For purposes of this evaluation, six well and frac types were selected. They are; vertical, hydraulic fractured vertical,
horizontal, longitudinal hydraulic fractured horizontal, orthogonal fractured horizontal with five hydraulic fractures and an
orthogonal fractured horizontal with eleven enhanced hydraulic fractures. The fracture lengths for the horizontal well type with 11
orthogonal fractures were increased by 300 ft from the values in table 1 to estimate recovery potential from a more optimal
completion. The drainage area used in the simulations for all well types was a quarter section or 160 acres, and the lateral length
for all horizontal scenarios was 2,000 ft.
A numeric reservoir simulator was used to determine the production for the six well types for the four permeabilities selected.
Figure 1 contains comparisons of the well recovery after 10 years for the resulting 24 simulator runs. As can be seen, for the high-
permeability cases (0.5 mD), all well types with the exception of the unfractured vertical well produced about 85% of the gas in
place after 10 years. This is in sharp contrast to the 0.0005 mD cases where the horizontal well with 11 transverse hydraulic
fractures recovered about 79% of the original gas in place, followed by the horizontal well with five transverse fractures at 47%
and all the other well types producing significantly less.
SPE 133985 3

100%

90%

80%

Recovery at 10 Years, Cum/OGIP

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10% 0.5
0.05
0%

Vertical
0.005 Permeability, md
Vertical Frac
Horizontal 0.0005
Horizontal
Axial Frac Horizontal 5
Transv. Horizontal 11
Transv.
Well Type Fracs
Fracs

Figure 1—Comparisons of gas recovery after 10 years for the 24 simulator runs.

The pore-pressure distribution at 10 years for the well type and frac types modeled for the 0.0005 mD permeability cases are
shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that the areas of the reservoir with the most depletion occur only where a hydraulic fracture is in
close proximity. Within the scope of the well types evaluated, a horizontal wellbore oriented perpendicular to the maximum
principal stress is the most effective platform from which to generate the high number of hydraulic fractures or fracture contact
area necessary to produce gas from permeability 0.01 mD and below.
In conclusion, assuming no damage for the high permeability, 0.5 mD case, well-type selection and fracture area are not critical
to hydrocarbon recovery. However, for increasingly lower permeability, gas recovery becomes more directly related to the fracture
area created. It should also be noted that, even for the lowest-permeability case, with the proper well and hydraulic fracture
selection, gas recoveries can approach 80% of the recovery for the 0.5 mD cases.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)
Figure 2—Pore pressure distribution at 10 years for the 0.0005 mD dry gas reservoir case with (a) vertical well, (b) hydraulic fractured
vertical well, (c) horizontal well (lateral length = 2,000 ft), (d) horizontal axial fracture, (e) hydraulic fractured horizontal with 5 transverse
fracs, and (f) hydraulic fractured horizontal with 11 transverse fracs (Xf=1,300 ft)
4 SPE 133985

Black Oil Reservoir—Well-Type and Completion Modeling

The generally accepted definition of a low-permeability oil reservoir is 1 mD or below. So, a permeability range of from 5 to
0.005 mD for these simulations was selected for modeling purposes. The 0.005 md permeability is almost three orders of
magnitude below this definition. Table 2 contains a summary of reservoir properties in which all the parameters, with the
exception of permeability, are fixed. As can be seen, permeabilities range from 5 to 0.005 mD. The fracture half-lengths and
conductivity are selected based on guidelines developed from hydraulic-fracture modeling and postfrac evaluation of vertical wells
based on permeability. Note that the 5 mD permeability has the shortest fracture half-length at 60 ft, and the 0.005 mD case has the
longest fracture half-length at 500 ft. The 60-ft frac length characteristic with a 5,120 mD-ft conductivity are achievable with the
use of a crosslinked frac fluid or fracpack-type treatment placing high conductivity and high proppant concentrations, while the
500-ft fracture half-length with 80 mD-ft of conductivity could be achieved with a hybrid-type treatment placing moderate
proppant concentrations.

Table 2―Oil Reservoir and Hydraulic-Fracture Modeling Parameters

k, mD Pay, ft A, acres φ, % Sw , % Xf, ft hf, ft wkf, mD-ft Cr

5 40 160 6 20 60 100 5120 5.4

0.5 40 160 6 20 125 100 1280 6.5
0.05 40 160 6 20 250 100 320 8.2
0.005 40 160 6 20 500 100 80 10.2

For purposes of the oil-reservoir evaluation, the same six well and frac types have been selected. They are: vertical, hydraulic
fractured vertical, horizontal, longitudinal hydraulic fractured horizontal, orthogonal hydraulic fractured horizontal with five
hydraulic fractures, and an orthogonal fractured horizontal with eleven enhanced hydraulic fractures. The fracture lengths for the
horizontal with 11 orthogonal fractures were increased by 300 ft from the values in table 2 to estimate recovery potential from a
more optimal completion. The drainage area used in the simulations for all well types was a quarter section or 160 acres, and the
lateral length for all horizontal scenarios was 2,000 ft.
A numeric reservoir simulator was used to determine the production for the six wells types for the four permeabilities selected.
Figure 3 contains comparisons of the well recovery after 10 years for the 24 simulator runs. As can be seen, for the high-
permeability cases (5 mD), all the horizontal well types produced the most oil, with about 25% of the original oil in place
recovered after 10 years of production. The vertical fractured well produced 22%, while the unfractured vertical well produced
19% of the original oil in place. This is in sharp contrast to the 0.005 mD cases where the horizontal well with 11 transverse
hydraulic fractures recovered about 11% of the original oil in place, followed by the horizontal well with 5 transverse fractures at
5% and all the other well types producing significantly less.

30%

25%
Recovery at 10 Years, Cum/OOIP

20%

15%

10%

5%

5
0.5
0%
0.05 Permeability, md
Vertical
Vertical
Horizontal 0.005
Fraced Horizontal
Axial Frac Horizontal 5
Transv. Horizontal 11
Transv.
Well Type Fracs
Fracs

Figure 3—Comparisons of oil recovery after 10 years for the 24 simulator runs.
SPE 133985 5

The pore-pressure distributions for the various well and frac types for the 0.005 mD permeability simulator runs are shown in
Figure 4. It can be seen that the areas of the reservoir with the most depletion occur only where a hydraulic fracture is in close
proximity. It can also been seen that all of these scenarios would have benefited from a longer fracture length. Based on our
experience, the 500 ft half length should be consistently achievable for this permeability. The 800 ft half length however, may be
overly optimistic and should be considered an idealized case. Within the scope of the well types evaluated, a horizontal wellbore
oriented perpendicular to the maximum principal stress is the most effective platform from which to generate the fracture area and
conductivity necessary to produce oil from permeability 0.1 mD and below.

In conclusion, for the high permeability (5 mD) case, well-type selection and fracture area are not overly critical to
hydrocarbon recovery, assuming no damage. However, for increasingly lower permeability, oil recovery becomes more directly
related to the fracture area created. It should also be noted that, in the lower-permeability cases, even with the better well and
hydraulic-fracture selection, oil recoveries are only about 45% of that achieved by the 5 mD cases. This is attributed to the
permeability ranges selected and associated hydraulic-fracture lengths used. The challenge of obtaining oil recovery from low-
permeability rock is a much more difficult task than the dry gas case and can require closer well spacing to increase oil recovery.

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e) (f)

Figure 4—Pore pressure distribution at 10 years for the 0.005 mD black oil reservoir case with (a) vertical well, (b) hydraulic fractured
vertical well, (c) horizontal well (lateral length = 2,000 ft), (d) horizontal axial fracture, (e) hydraulic fractured horizontal with 5 transverse
fracs, and (f) hydraulic fractured horizontal with 11 transverse fracs (Xf = 800 ft)

Gas Condensate Reservoir––Well Type and Completion Modeling

It is well established that production of gas condensate reservoirs with flowing pressure below dew point pressure will result in
formation of a condensate bank. The presence of a condensate bank will restrict hydrocarbon flow. Early in the life of the well,
when the condensate bank is fairly small, the reservoir can behave as if the producing well is damaged. As the condensate region
grows larger, the behavior of the reservoir will resemble that of a composite reservoir with two regions. Late in the life of the well,
the behavior of three concentric reservoir regions might dominate the well performance. The presence of this effective skin might
necessitate the fracturing of the well to enhance production.
Table 3 presents a summary of reservoir properties for the gas condensate simulations. Permeability ranges from 0.5 to 0.0005
mD. As for the dry gas case, the in-situ effective gas permeability of 0.1 mD or below is generally considered low permeability.
The fracture half-lengths and conductivity versus permeability are selected based on guidelines developed from hydraulic fracture
modeling and post-frac evaluation of vertical wells. The 0.5 mD permeability has the shortest fracture half-length at 125 ft, and the
0.0005 mD cases have the longest fracture half-length at 1,000 ft. Experience has shown that the 125 ft fracture half-length
characteristics with 1,280 mD-ft conductivity are achievable with the use of a conventional crosslinked frac fluid placing
moderately high proppant concentrations, while the 1,000 ft fracture half-length with 20 mD-ft conductivity is the equivalent of a
large stimulated reservoir volume achieved with a sand-water frac type treatment placing low proppant concentrations.
6 SPE 133985

Table 3––Gas Condensate and Hydraulic-Fracture Modeling Parameters

kg, mD Pay, ft A, acres φ, % Sw , % Xf, ft hf, ft wkf, mD-ft Cr

0.5 100 160 6 20 125 100 1280 6.5

0.05 100 160 6 20 250 100 320 8.2
0.005 100 160 6 20 500 100 80 10.2
0.0005 100 160 6 20 1000 100 20 12.7

The simulated scenario assumed a deep gas condensate reservoir (9,100 ft TVD). Figure 5 shows the liquid condensation curve
used for these simulations. The reservoir fluid yields up to 16 to 17% condensate when the pressure is dropped below dew point
pressure (4,950 psi). The initial pore pressure is 5,200 psi with bottomhole temperature of 215°F. Oil gravity is 52°API and gas
gravity is 0.675. The producing condensate-gas ratio is 100 bbl/MMscf. For all the runs, the production was constrained at 1,500
psi minimum flowing bottomhole pressure.

Figure 5―Liquid condensation curve

As noted before, six well and frac types were evaluated. They are vertical, hydraulic fractured vertical, horizontal, hydraulic
fractured horizontal with longitudinal fracture (axial frac), hydraulic fractured horizontal with five transverse fractures (evenly
spaced with 500 ft frac spacing), and hydraulic fractured horizontal with eleven transverse fractures (evenly spaced with 200 ft frac
spacing). We note that higher permeability reservoirs typically drain larger area than lower permeability reservoirs. The drainage
area used in the simulations for all well types was fixed at 160 acres. This assumed constant drainage area was necessary for the
purpose of comparing the recovery factors of the reservoir having different permeabilities and produced under different well
completion conditions.
Figure 6 and Figure 7 show comparisons of the gas and oil recovery factors after 10 years for the gas condensate case. All
well types produced 60 to 65% of the Initial-Gas-In-Place (IGIP) after 10 years for the high permeability cases (0.5 mD). In
comparison, for the 0.0005 mD cases, the horizontal well with 5 transverse hydraulic fractures recovered only 30% of the IGIP and
with 11 transverse hydraulic fractures recovery was 45%. Other well types produced less than 10% of the IGIP after 10 years of
production. The oil recovery factor followed the same trends as the gas recovery factor except for the high permeability case (0.5
mD) where boundary effect controls the depletion the most. In such a case, while the gas production is significantly accelerated
using either hydraulic fracturing, horizontal well, or both; long-term oil productivity may be decreased. Thus, proper selection of
well and frac types becomes even more crucial in gas condensate reservoirs. There can be loss of condensate production that might
not be recovered when well type selection and hydraulic fracture design are less than optimal.
SPE 133985 7

Figure 6―Comparison of gas recovery after 10 years for the gas condensate case

Figure 7―Comparison of oil recovery after 10 years for the gas condensate case
8 SPE 133985

The pore pressure distribution at 10 years for all the well types for the 0.0005 mD permeability case is shown in Figure 8. The
recovery factors appear to be similar for the hydraulic fractured vertical well and horizontal axial fracture cases. The vertical well
case assumed a fracture length of 2,000 ft (tip to tip), while the axial frac case assumed 2,000 ft horizontal wellbore. The results
suggest that for the low permeability cases (0.01 mD or below), the optimum completion strategy is to drill horizontal wells with
multiple transverse fractures to create maximum reservoir and wellbore contact area. If less drawdown in the reservoir can be
achieved through either hydraulic fracturing, horizontal well or both, single-phase gas production above the dew point pressure can
be extended for a longer time, which may significantly improve hydrocarbon recovery. For the more moderate reservoir
permeability cases (0.1 to 1 mD), horizontal wells (open-hole) without stimulation may be adequate if the reservoir is not
damaged.

Figure 8―Pore pressure distribution at 10 years for the gas condensate reservoir case with (a) vertical well, (b) hydraulic fractured
vertical well (Xf = 1,000 ft), (c) horizontal well (lateral length = 2,000 ft), (d) horizontal axial fracture, (e) hydraulic fractured horizontal with 5
transverse fracs, and (f) hydraulic fractured horizontal with 11 transverse fracs.

Dry Gas Reservoir—Case History

The Barnett Shale formation in the Fort Worth Basin has been a consistent example for the exploitation and development of
ultra-low permeability reservoirs. The first recorded completion was in 1981, and fewer than 100 wells were completed in the first
10 years of play activity (Lancaster, et al, 1993). Beginning in 1985, operators commonly performed massive fracs in the Barnett.
These fracs amounted to 30-40% of total well completion costs because of the large volumes of gelled fluids (typically 500,000
gal) and proppant (1.2-1.5 million lb) (Brister, et al, 2000). In 1997, Devon Energy (formerly Mitchell Energy) began
experimenting with waterfracs or light-sand fracturing treatments (Fisher, et al, 2002). Although this step-change did not yield
significant increases in well productivity, total completion costs were dramatically reduced. Despite this improvement in well
economics, drilling activity remained low for several years, and operators focused primarily on the “Core Area” of the Barnett
Shale (Denton and Wise counties). Expansion outside this area started in 2001 following an increase in the natural gas commodity
price. The incorporation of horizontal drilling and refinements in completion practices has led to significant increases in well
productivity.
Figure 9 presents a timeline for the activity described above. The data was compiled from public production records. The plot
shows the vertical and horizontal well count for Barnett Shale wells. The reported gas production in the plot is an average of the
peak production for all wells that reported first production during the year specified on the x-axis.
SPE 133985 9

60 6000
Avg. Best Month Production [MMscf/month]
Total Well Count
Hz./Dir. Well Count
Start of active
50 5000
horizontal drilling.
Avg. Best Month Production [MMscf/month]

Begin expansion beyond the “Core

Area” (Denton and Wise counties).
40 4000
st
1 Horizontal Well Start of slickwater fracturing

Well Count
30 3000

20 2000

10 1000

0 0
1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010
Year

Figure 9―Barnett Shale Development Timeline, 1985 – 2009 (Data Source: HPDI)

After 2005, the ratio of horizontal wells drilled and completed to the total well count exceeded 85%. As indicated previously,
significant increases in well productivity were obtained by this change in well type. As the percentage of horizontal wells reached
a plateau in 2007, further productivity increases were obtained, most likely as a result of refinements in hydraulic fracture
treatment design.
In an effort to identify completion practices that led some of these production gains, the authors reviewed an internal database
of 82 wells horizontal wells in the Barnett Shale. The database represented completion practices from 10 operators and consisted
of information derived from fracture treatment reports (perforations, injection rates, proppant mass and injected fluid volume) and
microseismic mapping projects (fracture geometry and stimulated reservoir volume (SRV)). Furthermore, this information was
coupled with public production records to allow quantification of well productivity. Wells in the database were distributed across
the resource play with a majority being located in Erath, Johnson, and Montague counties. Additional details from the database and
some median values were provided in Table 4 below. The range reported in this table represents ±1 standard deviation from the
median value. Minimum and maximum values were not reported.

Table 4―Database of 82 Horizontal Barnett Shale Wells

Variable Median Range (± 1 Std. Dev.)
Number of Stages 10 7-15
Distance Covered per Stage [ft] 290 230-400
Avg. Injection Rate [bpm] 40 30-60
Clean Volume [1000 bbl/well] 60 20-110
Total Proppant [million lbs/well] 2 1-4
Created SRV [million ft³] 660 150-1700
Approx. Hz. Length [ft] 3000 2500-4000
Peak Gas Production [MMscf/month] 30 10-140
12 Month Cumulative Gas [MMscf] 150 60-800
*Reported values are rounded

Additional details
• Completion Dates: Sept. 2006 – Dec. 2008
• The primary completion was a cased-and-cemented wellbore with plug-and-perforating
used for staging.
• Slickwater and natural sands (100-mesh and 40/70) were the typical materials used.
10 SPE 133985

Figure 10 was created to show a comparison between the peak gas 3

production and long-term recovery for wells in the above-mentioned database.

Comparisons for both six and 24-month cumulative recoveries were generated.
The results presented here were similar to those reported by Frantz, et al (2005) 2
and led to the same conclusion that short-term production rate can be used as a
predictor for long-term recovery in the Barnett Shale. This concept was used as
a basis for analysis since the production history for some wells in the database
1
was limited.
Throughout the course of the authors’ analysis, several indicators pointed to
trends that linked either the injected volume or proppant mass to well
productivity and SRV. Figure 11 was created to illustrate these relationships. In 0
this graph, the x-axis was based on the total volume of clean fluid injected into 0 100 200 300
an individual horizontal well. (The total was calculated by summation of clean Peak Monthly Gas Production (MMscf/month)
fluid pumped during individual treatment stages.) Similarly, the y-axis in the
graph was based on the total mass of proppant pumped into an individual
horizontal well. (The total was calculated by summation of proppant pumped
during individual treatment stages.) Each data point in this graph has been sized
in relation to the total SRV that was created in the horizontal well. (Larger data
points represent larger SRV.) A color gradient relative to the peak monthly gas
production was also applied to each data point. From this plot, one might
conclude that well productivity and total SRV in the Barnett Shale can be
increased by injecting larger fluid volumes and more proppant. Some caution
should be applied at this point, because the impact of variables such as lateral
length or compartmentalization of the treatment stages was not captured in this
graph.
To address the concern stated above, the data points in Figure 11 were
normalized by horizontal well length. (This variable was estimated based on the
Figure 10––Relationship between peak gas
distance between the first and last perforation set treated in each well.) production and long-term well performance
Following this normalization, Figure 12 was created. In a similar fashion to the in the Barnett Shale
previous graph, the x-axis was relative to the normalized volume of clean fluid
pumped, and the y-axis was relative to the normalized proppant mass. Likewise,
a color gradient relative to the normalized peak monthly gas production was applied to each data point. In contrast to the previous
plot, the size of data points in Figure 12 was relative to the approximate distance covered by each treatment stage. (This variable
was calculated by dividing the horizontal well length by the number of stages.) The size of data points is inversely proportional to
the degree of “compartmentalization” in each horizontal well.

Figure 11––Relationship between injected volume and proppant Figure 12––Relationship between normalized injected volume,
mass to well productivity and created SRV normalized proppant mass, and stage spacing to well
productivity
SPE 133985 11

Interpretation of the data presented in Figure 12 showed that productivity gains in the Barnett Shale were not only influenced
through increasing the injected volume and proppant mass, but also through the degree of compartmentalization within the lateral.
Higher productivity resulted from a combination of larger fluid volumes, larger quantities of proppant, and attempts to stimulate
shorter sections of reservoir per treatment stage.
The results reported here lead to conclusions that seem to be consistent with the work of previous authors who investigated the
production benefit of stimulating shorter sections of reservoir and the influence of proppant distribution and conductivity on well
productivity (Cipolla, et al, 2009)

Oil Reservoir—Case History

The well types used to exploit the Bakken Shale formation in the Williston Basin have changed significantly over the last
couple of decades. Initially, well types were fracture-stimulated vertical wells (Tabatabaei et al. 2009). Unfortunately, with the
exception of prolific high reservoir quality areas, the poor production results from these wells did not support wide-spread
development of this resource. More recently, the introduction of horizontal drilling in conjunction with ball sealer and sand slug
hydraulic fracture stage diversion facilitated the development of the sleeping giant field in eastern Montana (Wiley et al. 2004).
However, application of this completion approach resulted in marginal economics outside the core area (with the exception of the
prolific Parshall Field). This result caused operators to experiment with a wide variety of well and frac types including:
multilateral type completions (Besler et al. 2007), large volume fracs performed on openhole completions (Dunek et al. 2009) and
recently highly compartmentalized horizontal hydraulic fracture completions. However, comparison of production results from
different Bakken well types for the purpose of evaluating completion effectiveness has been problematic. This is primary because
of the wide variation in Bakken reservoir quality throughout the Williston basin. A timeline containing information about average
production, vertical and horizontal well count for Bakken development in the Williston basin is shown in Figure 13.

16000 Highly Compartmentalized

1600
Average of Best Month Oil Horiz. Fracturing
Total Well Count
Horizontal Well Count
14000 1400
Parshall
Development
12000 1200

Elm Coulee
Average Best Month Oil BBL

10000 First Horizontal Development 1000

Well

Well Count
8000 800

6000 600

4000 400

2000 200

0 0
53

55

57

59

61

64

66

69

76

78

80

82

84

86

88

90

92

94

96

98

00

02

04

06

08
19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

20

20

20

20

20

Year

Figure 13―Bakken Development Timeline

Figure 14 compares the average gas show observed during the drilling of the 19 Bakken horizontals to the resulting best month
cumulative oil production for horizontal wellbores with varying degrees of hydraulic-fracture compartmentalization. Of particular
interest is that completions with no or minimal fracture compartmentalization (small number of hydraulic fractures) follow a trend
of a low slope compared to the trend of highly compartmentalized hydraulic-fracture completions (larger number of fractures),
which define a trend with a much steeper slope. If it is assumed that the average gas show is a relative indicator of permeability
(natural fracturing) and that wellbores with higher gas shows have more permeability than wellbores with lower gas shows, the
conclusions that can be drawn by interpretation of these field results are remarkably similar to the conclusions drawn from the oil-
12 SPE 133985

reservoir-well type versus permeability simulator summaries. That is, as permeability decreases (lower gas shows), well-type
selection becomes extremely important to production and that increasing the number of frac compartments results in more
production due to the greater fracture area along the lateral. This information is useful because it justifies why the change to the
more expensive compartmentalization hydraulic-fracture completion needed to obtain commercial production in noncore, less-
permeable Bakken areas.

20000
Highly Compartmentalized
18000 Moderate Frac Compartmentalization

No Frac Compartmentalization
16000

14000
Best Month Oil Cum BBL

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000 Open Hole

Liner with No Frac Compartments
8 to 14 Frac Compartments
2000
> 18 Frac Compartments

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Avg Total Gas
Figure 14―The average gas show observed during the drilling of the 19 Bakken horizontals compared to the resulting best month
cumulative oil production for horizontal wellbores with varying degrees of compartmentalized hydraulic fracturing.

Conclusions
This work supports the following conclusions:
• Well production and recovery are directly related to the amount of fracture area created for the lowest permeability
scenarios; however, in the high-permeability cases, well type has much lesser or no significance.
• Recovery after 10 years of production for the dry-gas well cases ranged from less than 1% to approximately 85%, while
the recovery for the oil cases ranged from less than 1% to 25%.
• For oil wells with permeability below 0.1 mD, a horizontal well with the orthogonal or transverse oriented fractures
resulted in the highest recovery. At permeability of 0.05 mD and below, recovery is directly related to the amount of
hydraulic fracturing performed.
• For dry gas wells with permeability below 0.01 mD, a horizontal well with the orthogonal or transverse oriented fractures
resulted in the highest recovery. At permeability of 0.005 mD and below, recovery is directly related to the amount of
hydraulic fracturing performed.
• Fracture stimulation of the horizontal wellbore improved 10-year recovery for all but the highest-permeability cases,
while fracture stimulation improved recovery for all of the vertical-well cases.
• The Bakken case-history data supports compartmentalized hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wellbores to distribute and
create the fracture area required for recovery from low- and ultralow-permeability oil reservoirs.
• Fracturing condensate reservoirs early in the life of the well to avoid formation of a large condensate bank around the
wellbore that will have severe and potentially irreversible effects can be a critical factor.
• The effect of a condensate bank formed during the radial-flow period on the ultimate recovery of a fractured well
becomes more critical as the formation permeability gets smaller.
• This modeling exercise is intended to provide general understanding only. Additional modeling with specifics must be
performed to evaluate well type, fracture design, and spacing requirements for a specific well or formation.
SPE 133985 13

Nomenclature

A Drainage Area lb Pound

°API API Gravity mD milli-Darcies
bbl Barrel MMscf Million standard cubic feet
bpm Barrels per minute MMscfd Million standard cubic feet per day
Bscf Billion standard cubic feet Mscf Thousand standard cubic feet
Cr Dimensionless Conductivity psi pounds per square inch
hf Fracture Height Sw Water Saturation
HPDI Commercial Public Production Database TVD True Vertical Depth
ft Feet or Foot wkf Fracture Conductivity
ft³ Cubic Feet Xf Fracture Half-Length
°F degrees Fahrenheit Φ Porosity
k Permeability 3-D Three Dimensional

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