Completion Optimization in the Lower Huron Shale in Kentucky

摘要

EQT Production has been an active driller in the Lower Huron Shale in the Appalachian basin for nearly 100 years and has close to 5000 producing vertical wells in Kentucky alone. In 2006, EQT began drilling horizontal wells and has drilled over 400 Lower Huron Shale and over 100 Cleveland Shale wells in Kentucky through mid-2010. EQT has experimented with various completion designs and fracture methods in order to maximize production from these wells. EQT traditionally has performed both foamed nitrogen and nitrogen gas hydraulic fracture treatments, with the selection between the two dependent on reservoir pressure data taken from vertical offset wells drilled and completed in past decades. EQT also performed 33 hybrid (ultra-high quality foam) treatments on Lower Huron wells and compared their production against the production from their offsets. EQT studied the effect that frac stage length has on well production. The method in which the open-hole packers were set was also analyzed and found to be influential in well performance. From these studies, EQT has identified ways to improve well performance for a minimal cost by altering the completion design and has implemented these design changes in their completion programs.