American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2020 - 50

SpecialReport: Well Completion Technology

System Optimizes Completion Efficiency
By Sam Blatt,
Phillip Douget,
Michael Mast,
Brian Wiesner
and Tim Marvel
DALLAS-Automation has proven a
powerful enabling technology in numerous
operational workflows in unconventional
resource plays, particularly in managing
producing wells and pads. The benefits
of automation are now being extended to
plug-and-perf completion processes to
maximize pressure pumping efficiency,
improve pad site safety and ESG performance, and reduce cost per completed
foot of lateral.
A fully automated completion system
has been developed that integrates a multi-chamber hydraulic valve with pressure
containment, quick-connect lubricator
latch system, mechanized ball dropper,
and proprietary algorithms for real-time
data capture and interpretation. The valve
design's pressure equalization capabilities
facilitate wireline tools and balls entering
the pressurized wellbore without depressuring and re-pressurizing the frac iron.
Primexx Energy Partners Ltd. has deployed the technology to stimulate 34
horizontal Wolfcamp wells in the southern
Delaware Basin. The system contributed

to improved safety and efficiency, enabling
nearly continuous plug-and-perf operations
with significantly reduced wireline-tofrac and frac-to-wireline transition times.
As the automated system was deployed
and optimized, Primexx's Wolfcamp completion times continually improved, stimulating wells in as little as 41% of the
average time required to treat the operator's
nearby offset wells using traditional latch
plug-and-perf systems.
Primexx is a privately held independent
focused exclusively on developing the
Wolfcamp on its 42,000-net acre core position in in Pecos County, Tx. The largely
contiguous acreage is ideally situated for
long-lateral development, and 80% of
Primexx's locations have lateral lengths
greater than 7,500 feet. Per-well estimated
ultimate recoveries in the Wolfcamp A
(Upper and Lower), B and C benches
across the company's leasehold are on the
order of 1.5 million barrels of oil equivalent
(75% oil). The operator has installed more
than 400 miles of water and gas gathering
pipelines. Two water treatment facilities
provide 80,000 bbl/d of recycled water,
and compression stations deliver gas to
high-pressure gas sales pipelines.
The Wolfcamp formation in the southern
Delaware Basin requires higher frac pressures than in the central Midland Basin.

Frac pressures are as high as 13,500 psi
and average at least 10,500 psi throughout
the pumping process. To control the pressure, Primexx uses frac stacks rated at
15,000 psi. Such high-pressure operations
are demanding for the frac pump fleet, so
it is important to keep enough pump
horsepower operational to complete each
stage. The most important efficiency goal
is to optimize frac fleet horsepower.
Automated System
Plug-and-perf is the most prevalent
method for completing unconventional
wells. It enables pinpoint perforations,
zonal isolation, stage spacing adjustments
during completion, and the ability to
place 100-plus stages per lateral for highdensity frac designs. However, traditional
wireline tool deployment during plugand-perf operations is inefficient and labor-intensive, requiring personnel working
in the high-risk " red zone " to open and
close the frac stack gate valve for each
stage. Personnel also must work at height
to install the wireline lubricator on top
of the stack. Frac iron has to be depressurized, pressurized, and pressure tested
at each stage. Depending on the surface
tools used (latches, zipper manifolds,
etc.), it generally takes an average of 2045 minutes per stage to transition from

FIGURE 1A
Multi-Chamber Valve Operation during Ball Deployment
Drop Ball/Wireline/Collet
Lower Chamber at Well
Pressure

Upper
Chamber
Load
Lock
Lower
Chamber

Upper
Valve

Lower
Valve

Atmospheric Pressure
Well Pressure

50 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Close Top Valve
Equalize Load Lock to
Well Pressure

Load Lock at
Well Pressure

Open Lower Valve
Ball/Wireline/Collet
Enters Wellbore

American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2020