Cleanup/stimulation of a horizontal wellbore using propellants. Final report

摘要

This report documents the stimulation/cleanup of a horizontal well bore (Wilson 25) using propellants. The Wilson 25 is a Bartlesville Sand well located in the Flatrock Field, Osage County, Oklahoma. The Wilson 25 was drilled to determine if horizontal drilling could be used as a means to economically recover primary oil that had been left in place in a mostly abandoned oil field because of the adverse effects of water coning. Pump testing of the Wilson 25 horizontal well bore before cleanup or stimulation produced 6 barrels of oil and .84 barrels of water per day. The high percentage of daily oil production to total daily fluid production indicated that the horizontal well bore had accessed potentially economical oil reserves if the fluid production rate could be increased by performing a cleanup/stimulation treatment. Propellants were selected as an inexpensive means to stimulate and cleanup the near well bore area in a uniform manner. The ignition of a propellant creates a large volume of gas which penetrates the formation, creating numerous short cracks through which hydrocarbons can travel into the well bore. More conventional stimulation/cleanup techniques were either significantly more expensive, less likely to treat uniformly, or could not be confined to the near well bore area. Three different propellant torpedo designs were tested with a total of 304' of horizontal well bore being shot and producible. The initial test shot caused 400' of the horizontal well bore to become plugged off, and subsequently it could not be production tested. The second and third test shots were production tested, with the oil production being increased 458% and 349%, respectively, on a per foot basis. The Wilson 25 results indicate that a propellant shot treatment is an economically viable means to cleanup/stimulate a horizontal well bore.