American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015 - 84

SpecialReport: Hydraulic Fracturing Technology
notes. The team determined that most
Lower Tertiary projects targeted three to
five zones, steering the economics toward
completing multiple zones in a single trip.
And the wells needed to produce at optimal
rates throughout their entire life cycles to
deliver the recovery rates required for
economic development, he adds.
"To increase ultimate recovery, we integrated intelligent well control," Pateder
says. "The lower completion system has
dual-zone flow control. We knew some
of the zones would not produce all the
way down pressure wise, so the system
had to achieve a 15,000 psi differential
pressure rating. That way, if a zone starts
to produce water, the operator can shut it
off and continue to draw down the other
zones."
Reliability over a long production life
under extreme conditions was another
key consideration in the system's design,
Pateder says, noting the materials required
to deliver the 15,000 psi pressure differential bolstered the system's safety. "We
have very, very high ratings for burst and
collapse, and we are using NACE-compliant materials in the wetted areas to
give operators the assurance these wells
will last as long as 20 years," he reports.
From operator feedback, the team
knew the wells might require flow assurance treatments. Pateder says the system
can inject asphaltene and hydrate inhibitors
into the well as needed to keep production
flowing at optimal rates.
The team also learned that well surveillance is a key driver for operators.
"By monitoring and detecting changes in
temperature, we can detect events such as
water breakthrough and hydrate plugs.
The goal is to give the operator 'eyes'
into the performance of the well so he can
update reservoir models, take steps to improve production, and maximize the longterm value of each well," he explains.
"To offer these capabilities, we adopted
a system-based approach," Pateder emphasizes. "We needed to make sure the
components worked together to meet the
well operating conditions and deliver the
features to enhance the productivity of
the well. We designed the system to accommodate multiple lines for chemical
injection, fiber optic, electric and hydraulic
control lines could get to their ultimate
destination."
According to Pateder, the systemsoriented approach has several advantages.
"In the traditional approach, the completion
system is a box of parts from several
84 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

As operators have come into the Illinois Basin to test the Mississippian Lime and other
formations, Franklin Well Services has added larger pumps to its hydraulic fracturing
fleet. The company says these pumps join smaller vehicles that are used to complete
and periodically refracture the basin's many conventional wells.

companies, and the operator takes on the
risk of integrating them. Having one company design the system provides assurance
that the components will work together
and are qualified to meet the well specifications with margins for safety."
Pateder stresses that there is no room
for mistakes in frontier plays. "Operators
require contingency plans for every possible problem," he adds. "We have tried
to anticipate what the well will experience
throughout its life cycle and perform
process failure analysis so we can say, 'if
this happens, this is what we would do.'
"The system is targeted for the casing
size we expect customers will use, which
is 8½-inch drift cased-hole. This would
fit in 97⁄8-inch casing and still deliver the
required pressure rating, but in addition
to that, it offers a large internal diameter.
That gives us the capability to use a
larger work string, which will provide
higher set-down weights and facilitate
larger production tubing for higher production rates."
Pateder points out that the integrated
product team included not only engineers,
but also quality assurance, supply chain
reliability and operations professionals.
"As we designed the system, we wanted
to make sure we could mitigate the risk
associated with delivering the product,
building it, and operating it in the field,"
he explains.
Toward that end, the team had the engineers work for a standard list of materials. "On a part-by-part basis, this might
mean we pay more. However, we have
ready access to materials that would often
otherwise require a mail order, which
seemed appropriate for high-risk projects,"

Pateder says.
He adds that the company is implementing a standard quality plan. "We
have looked at all the deepwater quality
plans various customers have submitted
to develop one that differs from each
plan on specific tests, but is more rigorous
overall. The idea is to apply this plan
across all our projects to eliminate the
time and opportunity for mistakes involved
in coordinating different quality plans
for each project. We believe this will
help customers maximize safety, efficiency
and reliability."
Conventional Completions
The Illinois Basin may not have been
blessed with an equivalent of the Bakken
or the Marcellus, but small independents
with a knack for geology and cost control
continue to drill profitable wells there,
says Jerry Robinson, technical manager
for Franklin Well Services Inc. An effective completion program is often key
to these wells' productivity.
Although Franklin has performed larger
jobs, most of its completions in the Illinois
Basin are modestly sized. A good well in
the region may produce 200-400 barrels
a day. "The standard completion involves
a 210-barrel tank with 8,000-10,000
pounds of sand," Robinson details. "The
sandstones, limestones and dolomites operators target here often are only six-12
feet thick, so that is enough."
Robinson says Franklin performs hundreds of these fracs a year. "Close to half
the jobs we do are refracs," he reports.
"We come back to the same wells every
three to four years and recomplete them

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2015