Determination of optimum proppant volume for stimulation: A case study of the Elm Coulee field.

摘要

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are major technology advances that have made it possible to develop unconventional petroleum reservoirs such as the Elm Coulee field in Montana. A significant component of hydraulic fracture design is the proppant volume. It is important to know the optimum amount of proppant to use for stimulating a well in order to get the best from the asset. Currently, various amounts of proppant are being used for stimulating wells in the Elm Coulee field. This study investigated the optimal amount of proppant to use in Elm Coulee hydraulic fracture stimulation.;Using available oil production data and fracture stimulation reports from 180 wells in the Elm Coulee field, a database comprising important variables was created. Comparisons were made for the first 90 days of production versus the amount of proppant used to stimulate the wells in order to observe the relationship between the variables. Additional sorting was done on the database to access the relationship that exists between production and amount of proppant based on some criteria like number of laterals and netpay thicknesses.;Results showed the existence of a weak relationship between production and amount of proppant used in stimulating a well, which makes it difficult to determine an optimum proppant volume. Therefore, the use of very large large amount of proppants for fracturing may not be worthwhile and the production from a well may not be directly dependent on the amount of proppant used to stimulate the well.;Keywords: hydraulic fracture, stimulation, Elm Coulee, proppant.