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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 8, 2015 at 1:28

It came across my desk also, Hopeful.  Like most articles on the subject it is optimistic but short on specifics.  That's likely because operators are still experimenting and not settled on the best re-frac design for the wells that meet their criteria.  Note that the graph is an 80 well sample from the Bakken. The one mention of possible problems, siphoning oil from adjacent wells and ruining an entire reservoir, is IMO unlikely.  The real question is what does the re-frac cost and how much incremental increase in production is stimulated with what decline characteristics.  In a time of little good news many operators are looking for any positive spin they can utilize to bolster their prospects with analysts, stock holders and creditors.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 8, 2015 at 3:44

Study: Refracturing not all it’s fracked up to be

Posted on July 7, 2015 | By Robert Grattan   fuelfix.com

HOUSTON — Refracturing likely won’t have a measurable impact on the oil market for the next five years or so, according to a new analysis by energy consulting group IHS.

Early chatter about the refracturing process, where drillers return to previously fractured shale wells and pump them full of sand and fluid again hoping to unlock even more oil, has had traders and oil market watchers wondering if the U.S. wells whose prolific production sparked a collapse in oil prices are sitting on a second bounty, just waiting to be tapped.

But while longer term advances in the techniques and technology of refracturing might change the calculus, a large-scale redo of oil wells won’t make sense until companies see better returns from returning to old wells than from drilling new ones, said Christopher Robart, IHS managing director of unconventional resources.

“We’re calling a niche market opportunity in the three-to-five year time period,” he said. Currently, “in just about every case, the returns are going to be significantly better in drilling a new well.”

Only about 600 horizontal wells have been refractured since 2000, a very small fraction of the roughly 90,000 horizontal wells that have been fractured over that time, IHS numbers showed. Most of those refractures have been cases where producers were going back and applying new techniques to wells that were fractured years ago when the completion process was relatively new.

In 2014 and 2015, only about 1 percent of total fracturing jobs performed wells done on wells that had been previously fractured, Robart said.

And those refractures yielded mixed results, he added. Bakken wells preformed relatively well, with initial production and decline rates comparable with new wells. Other plays underperformed, though, and it wasn’t clear whether the Bakken wells stood out because they may have been inefficiently fractured long ago.

Refracturing a well costs roughly $2 million — often less than a new well because the infrastructure needed for the process is already in place. But the uncertainty involved means many companies will be hesitant to pour money down existing holes when there are plenty of new ones waiting to be drilled, Robart said.

“Right now the variance of outcomes in refracturing is high,” he said. “Making this work is going to take time. It’s going to be a long-term process.”

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Permalink Reply by Hopeful About Natural Gas on July 9, 2015 at 7:45

Skip, thanks for the Fuel Fix article. I would guess they are a more objective source than Bloomburg. It's interesting that they come to widely different conclusions. I guess we will find out more in the next few years.

I get an email from Google every night with the day's important stories in major media about natural gas. Most stories are negative but this was one of the few positive articles I've seen for awhile - but the Fuel Fix article is definitely the Grinch that stole Christmas. lol!

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 9, 2015 at 7:58

Hopeful, the devil is in the details.  The Bloomberg article is a small sample, 80 wells, in one play, Bakken.  It's way too early to have a good idea of the economics by play but the operators will get there eventually.  Until then those who are under the gun to turn out content can choose a position and find data to support it.  I deal with data daily and I want to see the raw numbers, not an Internet reporter's take on those numbers.  In my business, skepticism is a required trait.

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Permalink Reply by olddog573 on July 23, 2015 at 6:34

Take a look at CHK's Ford 23 in section 26 9N 11W.  While there have been some down months since October 2014, the majority of months are considerably up.  Refrac?  This well is now a 5.3 BCF well.

http://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/sundown/cart_prod/cart_con_wellinfo2...

No increase in production on CHK's Ford 26 setting on same well pad.

http://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/sundown/cart_prod/cart_con_wellinfo2...

 

 

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Permalink Reply by olddog573 on July 23, 2015 at 6:41

Since the refrac, Vine O&G in S19 11N 11W well has now produced more gas in 4 months than it did in the 3 years prior to the refrac.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 23, 2015 at 6:42

Can you post a link as you did for the CHK Ford 23?

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Permalink Reply by olddog573 on July 23, 2015 at 6:47

Vine O&G S19 11N 11W link:

http://sonlite.dnr.state.la.us/sundown/cart_prod/cart_con_wellinfo2...

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 23, 2015 at 7:27

The well was re-fracked on 12/30/14 and a new state potential test was performed on 3/25/15.  A good well to watch for the coming months to see how production holds up.  Thanks for posting, olddog.

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Permalink Reply by olddog573 on February 1, 2016 at 8:08

533181 10 MONTHS AFTER THE REFRAC

10/1/15	23990
9/1/15	26975
8/1/15	32449
7/1/15	36883
6/1/15	27955
5/1/15	46493
4/1/15	62123
3/1/15	70794
2/1/15	97693
1/1/15	107826
TOTAL	533181

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Permalink Reply by Henry on July 25, 2015 at 13:54

Why did SWEPI do such a lousy job in the initial fracking?  

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on July 25, 2015 at 14:20

The SONRIS Data Well File doesn't provide completion details and the Document Access is down.  An obvious reason for the quick decline in a well with a reasonably good IP is the short lateral, 3040'.  1000'+ short of the average lateral length for a 2010 well.

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