This study presents the application of a data-driven workflow for evaluating the completion design and production performance of the horizontal Wolfcamp wells located in the Midland Basin at the Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site (HFTS1). Leveraging the diverse and comprehensive datasets available at HFTS, the impact of various factors including completion design, reservoir properties, well spacing, and geospatial distribution of more than 400 hydraulic fracturing stages on the well performance is evaluated.
The proposed workflow assesses the impact of variations in the reservoir properties and completion design parameters on the formation response to the hydraulic fracturing work as well as production performance. It exhibits that the fracturing gradients calculated based on the measured instantaneous shut-in pressures (ISIP) are good indicators of the formation heterogeneity along the laterals in both the upper and middle Wolfcamp formations. Fracturing gradients are strongly correlated with both reservoir properties and well treatment factors and production performances are highly impacted by the inter-well communications resulted from the fracturing behavior.
The supervised multivariate analysis in this work provides an insight into the importance of selecting the optimum completion design on a well by well basis, highlighting the importance of adapting the design of hydraulic fracturing stages to the formation characteristics along the lateral placements of the horizontal wells by adjusting the perforation densities and proppant load. It also indicates that the presence of the offset verticals contributes to the fracture network complexity which positively impacts the ultimate fracturing potential in the nearby stages. Results suggest that aggressive stimulation in the regions with a higher range of fracturing gradient and higher clay content adversely impacted the production performance. It is also observed that the best performing wells, from the oil production standpoint, are those that experienced completion and treatment variations compatible with the formation characteristics along the laterals and improved fracturing techniques.
Four main categories of data are used in this workflow including formation parameters, completion design attributes, geospatial distribution of hydraulic fracturing stages, and the formation response to the hydraulic fracturing work. This workflow utilizes data from different disciplines to explain how different parameters can impact the production behavior of a well.
