Application of Real-Time Bottom-Hole Pressure to Improve Field Development Strategies in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp Shale

Abstract

The Midland Basin Wolfcamp Shale is very early in the horizontal well development phase and has many unique technical challenges. First, the Wolfcamp has the largest vertical shale interval of active US shale plays and requires multiple stacked laterals to fully develop the field. This presents considerable challenges in determining an optimal spacing and stacking development strategy. Second, multi-phase flow complicates reservoir engineering analyses by limiting our ability to accurately predict bottom-hole pressures (BHP) from surface pressures and flow rates. Finally, many Wolfcamp shale wells require artificial lift very early in their producing lives, and the efficiency of horizontal well artificial lift techniques to drawdown the BHP must be accounted for in well performance analysis. To help address these issues, we have run over 100 BHP gauges with real-time monitoring in Wolfcamp Shale horizontal wells. While real-time BHP gauges are common in high-rate conventional reservoirs, they are much less common in the onshore US shale environment. This paper will present several examples of real-time BHP data and analyses used to improve profitability of field development and operations. In particular, we will demonstrate how real-time BHP can be combined with other subsurface data in the Wolfcamp shale to evaluate interference between horizontal wells, quantify variability of depletion vertically in stacked pay intervals, develop flowback strategies, optimize artificial lift, and characterize the fracture system within the reservoir. These examples will demonstrate that although real-time BHP gauges have not yet been widely adopted in the onshore US shale environment, this information has yielded value far beyond the cost of obtaining the data and likely has wider application in other onshore shale plays.