An Early Production Comparison of Northern White Sand and Regional Sandin the Permian Basin

摘要

Use of regional sand in the Permian Basin dramatically increased in 2018.Regional or in-basin sand isoften perceived as lower quality compared to northern white sand(NWS);however,its use is fairly new,and production data has not been available to determine if,or in what cases,higher quality matters.Thispaper presents the results from a production comparison of Permian Basin wells that were hydraulicallyfractured with NWS and regional sand or both.A dataset consisting of approximately 450 wells completed with NWS or regional sand or both within theDelaware and Midland Basins was studied to determine the relationship between production performanceand sand type(or quality).To evaluate the effect of sand quality in well production,the dataset was dividedin smaller groups of wells with similar reservoir characteristics and completion practices.The initial phaseof the study was completed using public domain production data,while the second phase focused on thedevelopment of regional reservoir models to forecast production of wells using NWS or regional sand orboth.When analyzing an area containing sufficient wells for a reliable comparison,the survey revealed nostatistically significant difference in production for wells that used NWS versus regionally sourced sand.Models were built to predict differences in the production performance of each sand type.These modelstake into account and demonstrate the effects of differences in sand properties,as well as the impact ofthe favorable economics associated with regional sands.It was confirmed with the study that the sand typeis not a critical factor in regards to production performance when completing wells that are hydraulicallyfractured in ultralow-permeability nonconductivity-limited reservoirs.This paper presents an early look at the production numbers of West Texas wells completed withregionally sourced sand in the Permian Basin.The results of the study will encourage operators to furthercontemplate the use of regional sand when completing wells in ultralow-permeability shale reservoirs.Thisdataset will continue to evolve and reveal the effects of regional sand over the life of the well;this will bepresented in a future paper.