Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 20, 2011 at 12:11

Mr. Rascoe, you discussion is posted twice.  Please delete one.  Use the commands in the upper right corner of your discussion title box.

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Permalink Reply by Chal M. Rascoe, Sr. on October 20, 2011 at 12:23

Thank You, Skip   I hope I got it deleted.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 20, 2011 at 12:29

Not yet, Chal.  Look down the Main Page to the first discussion post with no responses.   Delete that one.  You may be able to delete by clicking on a small "x" in the upper right corner.

Now here's my 2 cents on proppants.  The depth and therefore the bottom hole pressures is the primary factor in choice of proppant.  Sand is the  most often used material as it seems to be the lowest cost alternative appropriate for most wells.  It is special sand as to its silica content and roundness.  As wells have been drilled further south and therefore deeper, resin coated sand may be required.  I do not recall any ceramic bead proppant mentioned in completion reports.  It is quite expensive and used only when required by formation pressures.  My daily research does touch on completion reports but I rarely look specifically at the proppant types and quantities so this is just a landman's opinion.  I'll look forward to some additional responses from our industry member.

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Permalink Reply by Chal M. Rascoe, Sr. on October 20, 2011 at 13:41

Skip, the resin coated sand is being used in S. De Soto and N. Sabine, to a 37% better production rate over a test of 16 wells with regular sand and 5 wells with resin coated sand.

If it works there why wouldn't it work at other places? Cost?  266,000 pounds of proppant per stage is being used.

The duration of the test was 10 months as reported by Momentive Proppant Co. Houston.

Several international companies are purchasing smaller ones in Texas, Ark, Canada, Louisiana.  The technology is growing, let's pray for better application and development.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 20, 2011 at 13:49

Chal, considering the high cost of completions I expect that all operators are using the least expensive product that they find meets their minimum requirements.  The jury is still out on long term proppant life as there are few wells with even three years production history.  As I mentioned earlier: the further south, the deeper the formation and the greater the likelihood that increased proppant strength is necessary.  Some operators already own their own sand sources.  Some are mined on land and some are dredged from rivers.  You can look around at the existing and emerging shale plays and make some rough estimates based on the TVD of the wells.

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Permalink Reply by Chal M. Rascoe, Sr. on October 20, 2011 at 14:19

Thanks, Skip

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Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on October 20, 2011 at 14:57

Chal, operators used the early stages of the Haynesville Shale development in 2008 & 2009 to optimize their completion designs early selection of the best proppants for each area of the Haynesville Shale play.  Some designs utilize combinations of proppants with the proppant strength varying along the length of the fracture.

 

By the way, you probably should have posted this discussion under the Haynesville Shale.

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Permalink Reply by Chal M. Rascoe, Sr. on October 20, 2011 at 15:11

Thanks for the information concerning earlier studies, are they published? Probably Not.

Did each company do it's own research?  The research, as you know, is unlimited on the

topic of proppants.  Remarkable comparison studies within each company.  

 

I probably need to wait for another discussion to place under haynesville shale?

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 20, 2011 at 15:56

Les B. is referring to the fact that you have posted your discussion in the Austin Chalk group, not in the Haynesville Shale group.  If you will look at the top of the page you will see the play groups listed; Austin Chalk, Brown Dense, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Tuscaloosa Marine.  It is helpful to post in the correct group as it is seen by the maximum members interested in the topic and it will make it easier to find this discussion topic later in the site archives.

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