Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Barbara Keene on May 6, 2012 at 6:36

Skip, can you give some possible insight into the oil kick/high pressure in the Ora well?  Could that have anything to do with the alternate well?  My knowledge of the oil industry is limited to what I have learned from this website.  Thanks to all who contribute.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 6, 2012 at 6:43

A "kick" occurs when the drillbit encounters a zone of pressure higher than expected.  The kick comes from the formation pressure being greater than the weight of the drilling mud in the wellbore.  That's my laymen's definition.  Here is the Schlumberger glossary definition:

kick

1.  n.  [Drilling]

ID: 1454

A flow of formation fluids into the wellbore during drilling operations. The kick is physically caused by the pressure in the wellbore being less than that of the formation fluids, thus causing flow. This condition of lower wellbore pressure than the formation is caused in two ways. First, if the mud weight is too low, then the hydrostatic pressure exerted on the formation by the fluid column may be insufficient to hold the formation fluid in the formation. This can happen if the mud density is suddenly lightened or is not to specification to begin with, or if a drilled formation has a higher pressure than anticipated. This type of kick might be called an underbalanced kick. The second way a kick can occur is if dynamic and transient fluid pressure effects, usually due to motion of the drillstring or casing, effectively lower the pressure in the wellbore below that of the formation. This second kick type could be called an induced kick.

Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on May 7, 2012 at 8:25

Ray, your original statement implied current wells would lose money.  Once a well reaches payout the cost number drops significantly and is well below the $2.24 level.  Hence SWN is not losing money on current drilling.  They also have a portion of their production hedged for 2013. 

Permalink Reply by Lee Max on May 8, 2012 at 3:40

Ray you are correct again.  

Broadbent is off base with every comment he makes.  They become comical once you see that he doesn't understand much or maybe he likes being perceived as unknowledgeable.  

The BP kick is a totally bad comparison and his points were irrelevant.  

Where is he coming from with that comparison?  

That well was in several thousand feet of water with a totally different engineering and geo-pressure regime.

Discussing the worst blow out in history in terms of loss of live and economic damage to the SWN kick in the ORA well is night and day different. The lack of any social sensitivity in using this comparison is poor judgement.

Broadbent's last comment takes the cake. "Any uncontrolled "kick" can be very dangerous."  Wow!  "Any fire can burn you."  "Any auto wreck can hurt you."  ETC.  What genius! HaHa

There was another site in which we had a Broadbent type.  We just ignored his comments and he eventually went away.  FYI 

Permalink Reply by The_Baron on May 8, 2012 at 3:55

Permalink Reply by obed w odom on May 11, 2012 at 5:24

Speaking of pressure, has anyone heard any pressure numbers for the Garrett or Roberson wells. I haven't heard any pressure figures at all for these wells, either while drilling, during flowback, or while shut in. Mueller did say at the last analyst call that they would be testing the shut-in pressure on both of these wells, as one measure of how extensive the fracture network is. Am I correct in assuming that, for formations with low permeability and low fracturing, both the flow rate and flowing pressure would decline rather fast?

Permalink Reply by Bill Dailey on May 11, 2012 at 7:37

obed, in the Baird 2012 Growth Stock Conference earlier this week, Steven Mueller, prior to stating the 7,000 PSI for the BML well, referenced a figure of 4,000 PSI for the general area.  Here's my transcription of the pertinent part of Mueller's statement, as best I can understand the audio:

"That third well, as we were drilling that well, we actually took what they call a 'kick.'  We took an actual flow on that well back.  It was an oil flow.  But the reason we took an oil flow, all of this area that we're drilling in, it's basically, at the bottom hole, where you're worried about the pressure, is about 4,000 pounds pressure.  In the third well we have over 7,000 pounds pressure at the bottom of that well.  We don't know why we have 7,000 pounds pressure.  Certainly more pressure helps with production.  But we're trying to figure that out right now.  We have drilled - finished drilling that well.  We reached total depth on that this last weekend with about a 5,000-foot lateral.  In the next three weeks we will have completed that well and be able to tell you what's going on in what looks like a high pressure area."

Permalink Reply by obed w odom on May 11, 2012 at 8:46

Thanks Bill. 4000 PSI is the first hard number I have heard.

Permalink Reply by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher) on May 7, 2012 at 13:50

Was the link to the press release always dead?

Permalink Reply by G Meaux on May 7, 2012 at 13:57

No, I opened it last night and it worked but tried to open it again today and it was dead.

Permalink Reply by Les Bamburg on May 7, 2012 at 15:55

Keith, in case anyone needs the press release I have attached to this post and included a link.

 

http://www.swn.com/investors/Press_Releases/2012/05.03.12.pdf

 

Attachments:

• SOUTHWESTERN ENERGY ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2012 5-3-12.pdf, 321 KB

Permalink Reply by DrWAVeSport Cd1 on May 8, 2012 at 2:19

Les B,

Thanks for the above.

 

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