Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 9, 2023 at 14:38

The Downs 6&7 -10-9 HC #1 drilled and set surface casing then the rig was moved to the Downs 6&7 HC #2.  The #2 had problems with the borehole, a lot of reaming and washing to keep the borehole open and then a lost circulation event.  Lost circulation is when the mud in the wellbore encounters a void in the formation and the mud goes into the void instead of remaining in the wellbore.  That's kind of a simplified explanation but there isn't much more to be found in the database.  There is no correspondence in the document portion of the database to provide further detail.  It appears that there are formation issues in Section 31 - 11N-9W where the well pad is located.  Maybe SWN could drill from the south, toe up in the future.  There isn't much known about the township as there have been few wells drilled in 10N-9W.

Permalink Reply by Brian on May 10, 2023 at 14:23

Did the #1 well drill ok and just #2 had problems?  I wasn't sure if they drilled the horizontal on #1 or just the vertical?

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 10, 2023 at 14:29

The #1 well only drilled to something over 2000' and set surface casing.  The rig did not reenter #1 after the problems with #2.  That may be because of the formation issues experienced in the #2 wellbore.

Permalink Reply by Rock Man on May 10, 2023 at 17:18

Decided to look at this after reading the initial posts. I have a theory as to what happened here.

See the attached PDF - shows a close up of this specific area. The two SWN wells / permits in question indicated (orange box). 

I don't keep up on M&A in this are but looking like SWN acquired laterals that had been drilled earlier by Indigo and EnCana (Ovintiv). Also note the two EnCana / Ovintiv 2011 dry hole laterals that were drilled and plugged.

• So a new drilling area for SWN as they permit these two new laterals to step out to the east away from the historical producing area.

SWN doing pad drilling here, i.e., two wells on same surface pad. Drill the surface hole on #1 and then skid the rig to drill surface hole on #2. Then drill the intermediate hole on both wells before drilling the laterals on both wells.

• This is a great plan and saves a lot of money IF drilling operations go as planned.

Things went smoothly here as SWN drilled and cased the surface holes to about 2000'.

On reading the details in SONRIS, during the drilling of the intermediate hole on the #002 well, all heck broke lose.

• Gas kick around 5700' that needed to be addressed. H2S alarms going off a little deeper which stopped drilling until this issue was addressed (false alarm but dead time with hole open and no drilling), got the well down to around 9000' but then had to back ream the hole to get it open enough for future operations. More time with open hole.
• Then the hole started to pack off on them (i.e., cave in / collapse) which caused a ton of problems.
• Eventually lost circulation which then led to them getting stuck.
• Luckily got unstuck but appears that hole was in such poor condition, the decision was made to set plugs and abandon the hole. 

This is all happening well above the kickoff part of the hole before getting to the 13,700' TVD of the planned lateral. 

My thoughts here are the SWN had a drilling plan that was flawed and led to a lot of problems as to controlling the well and drilling a clean, efficient wellbore. The SONRIS notes are a litany of drilling problems.

• Instead of skidding the rig over to go back into the #001 well (that had casing to 2000') and try to drill intermediate hole with what appears to be a flawed drilling program, management opted to get the rig off location.

Essentially - back to the drawing board.

I can foresee them coming back to this pad and going into the #001 well to resume drilling intermediate and lateral hole there.

• Assuming they put together a good drilling and mud program). 

The #002 well is dead and will never be re-entered.

These two laterals were permitted 1100' apart.

Drilling these deep laterals is not easy - and subsurface issues change quickly and can lead to unexpected drilling problems (like hole collapsing, lost circulation, unexpected gas zones, etc.).

• Have rig on location costing over $50 to $60,000 per day is no time to be trying to figure out drilling problems. Better to cut and run and come back to drill another day.

Of course, this is always a possibility of human error on location that ended up spiraling things out of control.

• Only SWN knows the real reason for what happened here - and that info will never be made public,

Just my opinion based on looking this over.

Attachments:

• SWN King Hill.pdf, 176 KB

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 11, 2023 at 4:14

Might there be formation anomalies in this general area due to displacement by Natchitoches Island?  XTO drilled a HA well in this area and reported that the Haynesville was faulted out and not encountered. 

Natchitoches%20Island.pdf

Permalink Reply by Rock Man on May 11, 2023 at 4:41

That is always a possibility as one gets deeper in this area.

However, the notes in SONRIS for the SWN well seems to point to wellbore integrity issues being the root cause of their problems. And this was all occurring over 3000' above the permitted TVD depth.

Even if some deep seating faulting rooted it way shallow into the section, it is improbable that it would be the cause of what was noted in SONRIS.

The one exception may be a fault creating a lost circulation zone when it is drilled across - but that would easier be handled by LCM and other standard operations.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on May 11, 2023 at 5:40

I have had a fascination with Natchitoches Island since I worked to put together a block of mineral rights to the immediate south of the ECA Messenger well (King Hill Field) in the early days of the play.  There is little data and the image that I posted is the only map I've found that shows the location.  I drive over the top of the Island every time I drive I-49 to Natchitoches and points south.

My main questions relate to the geological timing.  Did the basin fill up around the island?  Or, was the Island a later up thrust feature.  If the former, I would expect little disturbance to the stratigraphic sequence surrounding the Island.  If the latter, I would expect significant disruption and faulting.

The old timers who were most familiar with the island and it's impact on the stratigraphic column in the immediate area have all passed on.  I feel sure it was a topic of interest in their day.

Permalink Reply by Brian on January 24, 2024 at 12:42

These two King Hill wells were completed by SWN.  The new serial numbers are 254175 and 254176.   Sonris just reported the initial production as 36,408 MCFD and 34,032 MCFD respectively.  These seem like very good volumes for wells at the edge of the play.  SWN has three more wells currently drilling in the same sections.  I hope this means the adjacent southern sections that Tellurian has leased will also be productive.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on January 24, 2024 at 12:58

It might, Brian. Both wells report good pressures which is a key indicator however the initial volumes reported should be viewed in relation to the choke settings, 29/64 and 27/64.  Those are larger than normal orifice openings but make sense with the initial pressures reported.  I expect SWN to reduce the choke settings soon and then we will get a good look at the first months of reported production.  IP 180 (first 180 days) volume will give us a better idea.  The only other observation I would call attention to is the location of the sections being produced.  Both are on the far western edge of 10N-9W.  And that is indeed close to the edge as we know it currently.  Due south maybe economic.  The question is how far further east can wells be economic. Thanks for calling these completions to our attention. Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Paw on April 22, 2024 at 3:18

Is there a delay in updating Sonris, or has access changed.  In 10-10-30 SWN drilled serial 254265 and 254266, completed, fracked etc, but no updates on Sonris for months that I can see.  Also drilling currently in 10-10-29 for 254543 and 254544.  Maybe I’m looking in wrong place?