Advanced Multizone Stimulation Technology

Abstract

Advanced Multi-Zone Stimulation Technology Steve Bruce Lonnes; Steve Bruce Lonnes ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Timothy Hall; Timothy Hall Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Kris Nygaard; Kris Nygaard ExxonMobil Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar William Sorem; William Sorem ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Randy Tolman Randy Tolman ExxonMobil Production Co. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, October 2005. Paper Number: SPE-95778-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/95778-MS Published: October 09 2005 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Lonnes, Steve Bruce, Hall, Timothy, Nygaard, Kris, Sorem, William, and Randy Tolman. "Advanced Multi-Zone Stimulation Technology." Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, October 2005. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/95778-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition Search Advanced Search AbstractExxonMobil has developed two novel reservoir stimulation technologies that enable the rapid delivery of numerous high-quality stimulation treatments within a single cased wellbore.These technologies were developed for the purpose of improving, or enabling, economic hydrocarbon recovery from formations that contain multiple stacked reservoir intervals or require the stimulation of long productive intervals.These technologies:enable the stimulation of multiple target zones via a single deployment of downhole equipment;enable selective placement of each stimulation treatment so that they may be designed specifically for each individual zone to maximize well productivity;provide positive isolation between zones to ensure each zone is treated per design and previously treated zones are not inadvertently damaged; andallow for treatments to be pumped at high flow rates to facilitate efficient and effective stimulation.IntroductionReservoir stimulation in the forms of proppant fracturing, matrix acidizing, and acid fracturing is often required when well performance is restricted by the "as-drilled" wellbore.Unique stimulation challenges can arise when hydrocarbon resources are comprised of multiple vertically distributed discrete reservoir intervals or resources are contained in long productive intervals.These challenges are characterized by the need to effectively manage a balance betweenthe number of stimulations performed, the quality of each stimulation, and the associated stimulation cost.Within the context of current stimulation technology capabilities, the management of this balance can result in operators intentionally bypassing less attractive hydrocarbon intervals, incurring lower production due to poor stimulation effectiveness, or labeling resources as uneconomic based on the cost required to adequately access the reserves.Conventional multi-interval/zone stimulation approaches generally fall into one of two categories:the placement of individual treatments via a single pumping event and the deployment of tools and equipment into a wellbore to facilitate selective isolation and tailored stimulation of each individual zone; ormultiple treatments placed during a single stimulation pumping event using various flow control or fluid diversion approaches to coerce fluids into each of the available reservoir intervals.While approach (1) provides high-quality stimulations that maximize production from each reservoir interval, the approach is generally costly due to the time and equipment required forimplementation.As a result, cost control is generally achieved by stimulating only the highest quality reservoir intervals (bypassing smaller or less attractive intervals).Approach (2) minimizes the cost per stimulated interval by reducing the time that equipment is mobilized.However, the stimulation treatments placed using this approach are generally poorer in quality because treatment fluid delivery to each individual reservoir interval is not assured or directly controlled.More specifically, when multiple reservoir intervals are simultaneously exposed to a stimulation pumping event, some reservoir intervals may not be stimulated, thus reducing the total number of treated intervals.The remaining intervals may receive disproportionate volumes of treatment fluids that deviate appreciably from the optimized single interval treatment design.The end result is a larger number of intervals treated per unit stimulation cost but with generally poorer stimulation effectiveness.To capture the optimized production benefits associated with approach (1), and the cost reduction benefits associated with approach (2), ExxonMobil has developed and patented two new stimulation technologies that enable the rapid placement of a large number of high-quality treatments.These technologies are expected to improve the recovery from multi-zone conventional resources and "enable" economic recovery of multi-zone unconventional resources. Keywords: fracturing materials, uphole, deployment, stimulation, upstream oil & gas, packer, coiled tubing, perforation, valve, hydraulic fracturing Subjects: Hydraulic Fracturing, Perforating, Fracturing materials (fluids, proppant), Completion Installation and Operations, Completion Operations This content is only available via PDF. 2005. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.