SPE 153339

An Efficient Horizontal Cased Hole Multistage Stimulation Well: China Case

Story
Liu Guang Hua, PetroChina Dagang Oilfield Company; Cui Hui Kai, PetroChinaDagang Oilfield Company;
Jeremie Fould, JS Lee, Wang Hai Long, Zhang Xing Guo, Isaac Aviles, and Jason Baihly; Schlumberger
Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Oil and Gas India Conference and Exhibition held in Mumbai, India, 2830 March 2012.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.


Abstract
Drilling activity has been steadily ramping up in China to meet the countries energy demand and government
production goals. This is moving some activity to previously unexploited tight formations requiring hydraulic
fracturing to produce economically. These formations have historically been producing with stimulated vertical
wells and some horizontal un-stimulated wells. Many of these tight reservoirs exist in the Bohai Basin of
Eastern China.
In order to quickly ramp up production to meet the governments goals, new drilling and completion techniques
are being used including completing horizontal wells with multistage hydraulic fractures in some fields. In some
low producing areas new methods of isolating and stimulating wells are being investigated by the operator.
New stimulation isolation methods must be streamlined as much as possible in order to achieve the production
goals quickly and economically.
One of the new completion systems that was developed for cemented wells requiring multistage stimulation us
generically called the treat and produce (TAP) completion system. This high efficiency completion system has
recently been used in Chinas Dagang field to stimulate a horizontal well.
The TAP system was run by the operator in the Dagang field, where cased and cemented vertical completions
are common and require artificial lift to produce. Horizontal cemented completions have been recently
introduced as a means to increase field wide production. Although plug and perforating methods are
applicable for these wells, the client turned to a more efficient solution. TAP systems permit continuous
pumping operations to be performed while precisely placing multiple hydraulic fracture treatments along the
horizontal section; immediate flowback is possible for further production and efficiency gains.
In order to efficiently complete the horizontal well, a treat and produce (TAP) system was used in order to
complete the well. This completion system uses a series of sliding sleeve valves that are installed as part of
the casing string. These valves are actuated by pressure and sliding sleeves with graduated ball seats.
This paper describes the TAP completion system and its application in the Dangang field in China. TAP
completions enabled optimized fractures placement and propagation in cemented completions that resulted in
efficiency and production gains for the client, proving the application for the field. By means of a case history,
the specific design and operation of the TAP completions system are discussed.



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Background
The subject well for this paper is located in the Dagang field which lies in the Huanghua depression of eastern
China and is located in the district of Tianjin. The first commercial oil discovery in the Huanghua Depression
came in December 1963 with the drilling of the Huang #3, which was completed across the Tertiary Guantao
group. The play grew over time and by the end of 1996, the oil-bearing area of the Guantao group was proven
to be 564.5 km
2
. In this area the proven OOIP was calculated to be 7.9 X10
8
t. This same area had a proven
gas bearing area of 104.5 km
2
with a proven OGIP of 309.69 108 m
3
in addition to a proven gas condensate
OOIP of 734 10
4
t. There are 23 oil and gas fields under development now in the depression, including 15 oil
and gas producing fields in 24 development areas in the Dagang field, providing an annual production of 430
10
4
t oil and 3.8 108 m
3
gas. It is the sixth largest onshore oil and gas field out of 21 commercially producing
fields in China (Oil China, 2012).
Although these numbers are impressive, they are the result of the combined production of a large number of
wells; the individual production of an average well in the Dagang field may be considered by some
economically marginal. With the high targets of oil production that has been set by the operator (over 6M t
equivalent oil per year in this field), there is a significant amount of work that is required to increase production.
Operational optimization is a key factor to the development of the field by means of completing wells as quickly
as possible with a fixed amount of resources to meet the desired production goals. Another key factor that
aids in achieving the goal of more production in the field is to achieve incremental production gains in individual
wells. This can be realized by properly identifying and completing as many pay horizons as possible.
Completion technologies that expedite operations while delivering the greatest productivity results are
preferred (China Daily, 2012).

Reservoir

The Huanghua Depression is a secondary structural unit in the Bohai Bay Basin. Studies in this area have
found that burial depth is one of the most important factors affecting compaction intensity, which relates to
porosity and permeability values for the reservoir. With an increase in burial depth, compaction grade
increases accordingly. One study in the area found that, formations buried between 2,0004,500 m, have a
compaction intensity that belongs to a Grade III (moderate compaction) and Grade IV (moderate-strong
compaction). The porosity of the sandstone with Grade III compaction is mostly 15%20%, and the
permeability is mostly 510
3
2010
3
m
2
(5-20 mD). The porosity of sandstones with Grade VI compaction is
mostly 10%15%, and the permeability is mostly 0.11035103 m2 (0.1-5 mD) (Jin Zhen-Kui 2008).

The targeted formation in this project will be referred to as Zone G. Zone G is a 314m thick sandstone buried at
a depth of 2,902 m TVD. Zone G in this trial well is an oil bearing zone containing light crude with a
permeability of around 13.8 mD and a porosity of 11.9%; this falls under Grade III compaction described
above. Both permeability and porosity parameters are on the low range of the average properties of the field
(15m D and 12-14%). This reservoir is not supported by an active aquifer and artificial lifting is required for
economic production.




Current Completion Trends

Reservoir conditions and logistical requirements in the Dagang field as well as established best practices of the
area dictate that a cased and cemented solution is the preferred completion method by the operator for wells
that need to be hydraulically fractured. Prior to running TAP completion systems, the operator utilized standard
methods to complete the wells in this area. The operator mostly drilled and completed vertical wells, where the
target zone was perforated then treated from surface and a rod pump would then be installed once required.
Wells are usually drilled vertically due to a combination of:

Logistical requirements: There is a large amount of drilling rigs in the area and as such, drilling multiple
vertical wells is the preferred method. This is also the preferred method because it meets the production
output targets with the lowest amount of risk, when compared to completing horizontal wells that may
require new completion methods that the operator is not familiar with in this area. Horizontal wells are not
that common in this area, but when they are drilled they are not stimulated.
SPE 153339 3
Expected well production: Well production is usually low so simple and safe drilling and completion
methods are preferred to minimize cost and risk.
Production surface equipment limitations: The main artificial lift methods used in this field are rod
pumps with limited output capacity. Switching to lateral well configurations with higher production would
require a change in the artificial lift method.
In order to boost the individual production in new wells the operator decided to drill horizontal wells to increase
the potential return and ultimate recovery, even though they would depart from the current vertical drilling and
completion practices. An average vertical well produces 15 m
3
/day of oil, while a horizontal well delivers an
average of 45 m
3
/day using conventional completion techniques including slotted liners or screens with no
stimulation treatment performed. Based on the drilling versus production risk/reward, the operator explored
new technologies that decreased the risk of completing horizontal wellbores while allowing them the flexibility
to fracture stimulate the well and mechanically isolate in between stages. This was desired in order to further
increase productivity per well.

To increase the production, the reservoir contact needed to be improved. A horizontal well was designed to be
drilled in Zone G. This was the first horizontal well drilled in this block of the field. After production forecasting,
it was determined that the well needed to be fracture stimulated to achieve higher levels of production. The first
horizontal well to be drilled in this block was a challenge for the operator due to a lack of horizontal drilling and
completing experience. When looking for completion fracturing techniques, they were risk adverse. The
operator was seeking alternative technologies that enabled a fast return on investment and allowed higher
production rates, while limiting the risk exposure and the cost of the system.

New technologies that facilitate multi-stage fracturing stimulation where considered by the operator. Among
these solutions, the plug and perforating technique was considered as an option. The workflow needed for plug
and perforating operations calls for simultaneous operations between fracturing and wireline crews (and the
need for both of them to be on location for an extended amount of time); it also depends on coiled tubing to mill
out plugs in case any plug pre-set. These types of operations can have a fairly steep learning curve at first.
Furthermore, this completion technique also takes additional water volumes to convey the plugs which are
already in tight supply in this region of China. The risk of possible plug pre-setting, perforating gun misfiring,
water limitations and the requirement of post stimulation drilling out of plugs where weighed versus the
possible gain in production. After quick analysis, it was determined that the necessary extra steps required by
this technique would increase the risk beyond an acceptable level and it was decided not to perform plug and
perforating operations. In this environment, any technology used that could lead to a delay in production due to
a potential failure is an unacceptable risk that can detract from the yearly production goals .These reasons led
to alternative completion techniques to be examined. One proposed technique virtually eliminated the risks
associated with plug and perforating operations and would result in an easier and faster completion time. This
proposed solution was the TAP completion system. A simple comparison between these two completion
systems can be found in Figs.2 & 3.

Completion System Overview

The TAP completion system is a combination of a pressure-activated initiator valve and a series of sliding
sleeve valves that are made up as part of the final completion. TAP valves are run as part of the casing string
and are cemented in place (Fig. 4). The lowermost valve contains a rupture disk and it is opened by applying
surface pressure from the wellhead. The remaining valves for the system are activated using balls launched
from the surface during the flush stage of the hydraulic fracture treatment. These balls land on a ball seat and
hydraulic pressure on the ball slides the sleeve open and diverts fluid flow into the next stage. This TAP
system employs mated graduated balls and seats, with the smallest ball being used at the toe of the well with
the largest nearest to the heel. Once a ball lands in its mated seat, the hydraulic pressure from the surface
creates enough force to maintain the ball on seat and isolate the current fracturing treatment from the previous
stage. This continuous compartmentalization allows for an effective placement of hydraulic fractures in the
horizontal ultimately resulting in improved production results. TAP systems have been proven successful in
other oilfields in China and in North America as a proper alternative to the standard pump down plug and
perforating operations (Rytlewski, 2008).

TAP systems do not need any special considerations when being run in hole. The valves are screwed on the
casing/liner and become part of the final completion. Cementing operations can happen without any changes
to the cementing procedures or chemistry. The well can be pressure tested to verify integrity and isolation
4 SPE 153339
before fracturing operations can begin. Before the fracturing process begins, communication needs to be
established from the wellbore to the reservoir. In order to do this the rupture disc valve needs to be activated
by increasing the pressure at the surface to a predetermined value, typically slightly above the casing test
pressure, causing a rupture disc to break. This activates the rupture disc valve and opens the sliding sleeve to
allow fluid to pass from the wellbore to the formation. At this point, the first stage is ready to frac.

The initiator valve (rupture disk valve) is used to eliminate the need for tubing conveyed perforating (TCP).
TCP is normally used in horizontal applications to perforate the lowermost zone at the toe of the well. The
rupture disk valve reduces the completion cycle time and minimizes nearly all of the risks associated with TCP
operations. It uses a very accurate rupture disk system that initiates the opening sequence with tubing
pressure against an atmospheric chamber. The valve uses two rupture disk and as long as one bursts open,
the valve will actuate. By having two rupture disks, the valve has a 100% backup to guarantee its proper
operation. Once the rupture disc bursts, the atmospheric chamber floods with hydraulic pressure, acting like a
piston to force the sleeve down towards the tie, sliding it open and exposing the helical ports to the wellbore.
Fracturing operations can then begin. This valve has been used in conjunction with a number of completion
system in other horizontal wells requiring hydraulic fracturing in North America including plug and perforating
operations. Although the rupture disk valve had been used in China before, this was the first time for this
particular operator.


To stimulate the rest of the stages in the well a series of ball drop valves were utilized. These valves have a
consistent 6.63 OD but they have variably sized seats that increase in diameter with each valve from the toe
towards the heel of the lateral. A ball is pumped from the surface, to land in the seat and slide the sleeve open.
In this particular case history the seat ID ranged from 3.0-3.5 inches as per the well design. The smallest ball
was pumped for stage two and the largest ball was pumped during the activation of the last valve. Helical ports
are also used in this valve. The ball drop valve has a simple and robust design that can be dressed in the field
to allow last minute changes on location when requiring additional stages. Once all the valves are activated
and the stimulation treatments are complete, the balls flow back to surface with the fracturing fluid flowback
stream. If required, the seats can be milled to provide full ID. See a picture of the valves in Fig. 5.

It is important to note that the TAP system requires no perforations, even though it is cemented into place.
Fracturing through the cement sheath without perforating has been a concern in the past of cemented sliding
sleeve systems. Having a cement sheath around the valve with no perforations to allow communication from
the wellbore across the cement sheath to the reservoir rock can create elevated fracture initiation pressures.
TAP cemented valves have been optimized to reduce fracture initiation pressure. A significant amount of
laboratory testing and surface experimentation was carried out to determine the feasibility of this. A helical port
configuration was designed to minimize fracture tortuosity and initiation pressure (Fig. 6). The studies in SPE
100572 have shown that the helical configuration results in lower fracture initiation pressure than the
equivalent of 60 degree phased perforations. In addition, these valves were found to have better contact to the
near wellbore area, further reducing any tortuosity that may be found. Laboratory results have been confirmed
by numerous wells utilizing this type of helical port patterns (Rytlewski, 2006).


Isolating in between each fracture stage is immediate allowing operations to be completed more quickly than
alternative technologies. In case of a screen out and if the ball/seat size combination allows for Coiled Tubing
to go through, the contingency plans are similar to those in plug and perforating operations using flow back or
Coiled Tubing clean out methods. This combination of ease of operations, simple contingencies and no
changes to the running in procedure for the final completion resulted in a very attractive completion system for
the operator who was looking to expedite fracturing operations while minimizing risk.

Completion Operations

The final completion design for this well had a 5 monobore casing configuration and a 8 hole in the
horizontal section. The total measured depth was 3,475 m and the true vertical depth was 2,902 m. The drilling
plan called for a kick off point at 2,330 m where they would drill a pilot hole into the reservoir (45deg tangent
section). Then, after identifying the final targets, the hole was plugged and kicked off again to land into the
reservoir properly. The stimulation design called for a four stage fracturing design. The original fracturing
design called for 5 individual stages but a final decision during the drilling was made to shorten the horizontal
section and remove one stage. A rupture disc valve was used on stage one and ball drop valves were used for
stages two through four. Each valve was placed at a strategic position along the horizontal section based on
SPE 153339 5
the logging data. In this particular well, the valves were not equally spaced which is another advantage of using
cemented applications. The well schematic can be seen in Fig. 7.

Installing the TAP equipment in this well was simple and efficient. The rupture disk valve was set to an
opening pressure that did not interact with the cementing operations and allowed for pressure testing of the
casing to be performed during the cement plug bump. Although it is possible to pre-set this valve in the
workshop, in this case it was set-up on location after gathering and agreeing upon all the information relative to
the cement job. The rupture disc valve was set up to activate 3,500 psi above the cement plug bump pressure
test after the cement job (there was no casing pressure test planned). The ball drop valves seats were
installed on location once the total amount of stages to be completed was determined. The opening pressure
was selected by modifying shear screws depending on the fracturing parameters. This pressure was defined
based on:
Surface treatment equipment: the maximum pressure available on surface while performing the
treatment.
Downhole fracturing intiation pressure: to verify that the differential pressures obtain between
stages would allow for the correct shifting of the valve.
Maximum differential pressure acceptable across the ball and seat: as to avoid a failure of the
system during the opening and fracturing sequence.
It is important to note that it is critical to know ahead of time what type of wellhead equipment will be used as
balls will have to pass through the wellhead. Once the system was run to the desired depth, cementing
operations where performed without any incident to note.

Fracturing Treatment Operations

Two days before the main frac and before mobilizing the full frac crew the lower most zone completed with the
rupture disk valve was opened using a single frac pump. Opening the rupture disc valve earlier presented the
advantage of not having to mobilize the full frac crew, in case an issue arose during the opening sequence. As
an added contingency, the operator moved a very small workover rig to location, which was capable of running
tubing in case of any issue during the treatment. This approach was more economically attractive for the
operator due to Coiled Tubing availability. Pressure was built up slowly from atmospheric pressure to the
designed opening pressure where a sudden pressure drop indicated that the valve opened. A minifrac was
then performed to determine formations parameters and confirm the injectivity into the first zone. The fracture
designed by the operator required pumping a high volume of sand in each zone (about 40 to 50 tons) at a
pump rate of 5.5m
3
/min (35 bbl/min) to generate the desired fracture geometry (fracture half-length of 160 m
and a fracture width of 0.8 in). It is important to note that in this area, such an aggressive treatment pumping
schedule is not common in this field and significantly added to the complexity of the operations and to the total
amount of risk the operator was taking to complete the well successfully.


Following the opening of the rupture disc valve and after mobilizing the frac crew to the location two days later,
fracturing operations started with the treatment of the first zone. After full flush on the first stage, the first ball
which had been previously loaded in the wellhead, was released into the well. It is a common practice in order
to avoid over flush, the ball is pumped from above with the flush treatment. In this particular case it was
decided to use valves on top of the well head to release the ball manually once the flush was completed (see
Fig. 8). This had more control on which ball was being launched compared to automatic ball launchers and the
solution presented the advantage of allowing the operator to monitor formation closure but it required time to
wait for the ball to free fall while the pumps were shut down. This operation took about one and a half hours
per stage. It was verified during the treatment that standard oilfield calculations and best practices for the free
falling balls were accurate. The balls are made of a composite material with a specific gravity of around 1.8.

Once the ball landed on the first seat (second stage), the pressure increased quickly at which point all pumps
were shut down. Once pumping resumed, a sudden drop in pressure indicated that the valve opened (Fig. 9).
It can be appreciated from the graph that the fracture initiation pressure was low and once the ball drop valve
shifted opened, the formation was easily fractured (less than 4,800 psi on surface). This behavior is consistent
with the experience often found when using the helical port design present on the TAP systems. The rate was
increased further and the stage two fracture was initiated. These exact steps were repeated until the four
stages were treated. It is important to note that the fracturing pressure response of each stage was different.
The differences in fracture initiation pressures as well as average pumping pressures were an indication that a
different part of the reservoir was being stimulated. For stages 1 to 4, the fracture initiation pressures were
6 SPE 153339
5,100, 4,800, 5,800, 5,500 psi. Although no microseismic data was available to confirm fluid diversion, the fact
that differing pressure behaviors were found with each stage, it can be inferred that different sections of the
horizontal were being stimulated with each treatment stage.

Fracturing operations were performed in a continuous manner for ten hours; all four stages were successfully
fractured. The full pumping schedule can be seen on Fig. 09.


Conclusions and Results

After finishing the four stages, the well was flowed back immediately for several days. Unlike many other wells
in the area, this well was able to flowback naturally without any pumping equipment (surface or downhole)
installed. Production was eight to ten times greater than a conventional vertical offset well and three times the
production expected from an un-stimulated offset horizontal well. After 36 hours the total amount of fluid
produced was about 200m
3
with a 32% oil cut. After this point, detailed data recording stopped. In addition, the
well flowed naturally for five weeks before the operator decided to install an ESP. Although rod pumps are
commonly used in this area due to low production rates in vertical wells, the operator determined that an ESP
was more appropriate in this case due to the higher production of the well. A long monitoring period started at
this point (with the well choked on surface), in order to stabilize production that would extend the longevity of
the well. The return on investment time in this horizontal TAP well was calculated at two and half months
compared to four months for a conventionally completed, un-stimulated horizontal well and eight months for a
vertical well. Some approximate production data is shown compared to the overall well cost (Fig. 10).
Following this successful installation, several other wells are planned to be completed in the near future
following the same completion design to sustain and eventually increase production in this mature field.

The TAP completion system gave the operator an optimized way of producing the Dagang field. After careful
analysis of the different cemented options available in the market, a treat and produce solution was utilized.
The system performed as expected and four zones where treated successfully in a single day. Significant time
savings where achieved during this operation, that ultimately translated into economical savings and more
efficient operations. Furthermore, production was improved significantly in this wells compared to offset wells
of all types.


References

G.L. Rytlewski and J. M. Cook. A study of fracture initiation pressures in cemented cased-hole wells without
perforations. Paper SPE 100572. Presented at the 2006 SPE gas technology symposium held in Calgary,
Alberta, Canada. 15-17 May, 2006.

G.L. Rytlewski .Multiple-Layer Completions for Efficient Treatment of Multilayer Reservoirs. Paper SPE
112476. Presented at the 2008 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference held in Orlando, Florida, U.S.A., 46 March
2008.

Jin Zhen-kui, Liu Chun-hui. Quantitative study on reservoir diagenesis in Northern Dagang Structural Belt,
Huanghua Depression. Petroleum Exploration and Development. Volume 35, Issue 5, October 2008.

Dagang Oilfield. Oilchina.com http://www.oilchina.com/eng/Service-Center/oilfileds/Dagang.htm (accessed on
January 12th, 2012).

Dagang boosts oil reserves. Chinadaily.com http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008npc/2008-
03/10/content_6521590.htm (accessed on January 02th, 2012).

SPE 153339 7



Figure 1: Map of China
DaGang Field
8 SPE 153339


Figure 2: Standard Plug & Perforating Method


Figure 3: TAP Completion Method










SPE 153339 9





















Figure 4: Completion Drawing

10 SPE 153339


Figure 5: TAP Valve Helical Port



Figure 6: The valves prior to be running in hole




SPE 153339 11

Figure 7: Ball launcher system with 2 valves

Dual Valve
system to
drop the
balls
12 SPE 153339

Figure 8: Example of one stage pumping schedule with valve opening signal




Figure 9: Pumping schedule


Valve opening
signal
SPE 153339 13

Figure 10: Cumulated Revenue vs Well cost