Wilcox Rocks!
Fracture treatments in the Wilcox often encounter hot,
highly pressured, hostile conditions, and that’s just at the surface!
THE BACKGROUND
Pemex is actively developing the Arcabuz-
UNITED STATES
(TEXAS) Culebra Field in the Burgos Basin and
MEXICO
recognizes that continued economic
Arcabuz
Laredo
development requires the efficient
application of hydraulic fracturing, effective
McAllen
well spacing and optimum well placement.
Culebra
Long hydraulic fractures can significantly
increase well productivity in these low
permeability sands while the resulting
drainage pattern is elliptical, requiring
accurate knowledge of fracture direction
in order to optimize well spacing. Well
THE SETTING spacing and location are controlled by the
in-situ stress-state, reservoir permeability,
• Wilcox Sand in the Burgos
and the distribution and orientation of
Basin of Northern Mexico
faults. Local variations in pore pressure
• Tight Gas Sands due to compartmentalization or offsetting
• 6500' ­- 9800' production can result in large variations in
• Original Pore Pressure stress that can significantly impact reservoir
Gradient = .9 psi/ft production, fracture geometry and fracture
direction.
• Fault-bounded
compartmentalized
PINNACLE PERFORMS
reservoir
Pemex believed that this field could be
economically optimized through improved
well positioning, more effective drainage
patterns, better hydraulic fracture treatment
designs and an optimized production
strategy. Pinnacle Technologies was
contracted to perform direct fracture
diagnostic measurements on 4 fracture
treatments in two wells and to perform
fracture model calibration to develop a
predictive tool for frac design. In addition,
well spacing and placement were optimized
using a reservoir model to predict well
performance.
Optimum well placement
in low-permeability Wilcox
sands of Culebra portion
of the Field. Illustration
shows elliptical drainage
pattern characteristic of
low-perm hydraulically
Optimum
fractured reservoirs.
Well Placement
Fracture mapping results from Pinnacle’s
Surface and Downhole tiltmeters plus
FracSeissm Microseismic Fracture Imaging
measured fracture orientation in a generally
NNE-SSW in the Culebra Field, consistent
with the regional stress trend, although
fracture orientations on one well varied by
40 degrees between stages. These variations
may result from pore-pressure depletion or
proximity to faults.
3-D Fracture Modeling with FracproPT
indicated long fractures and confined
fracture growth in the Wilcox 4 and shorter
lengths in the Wilcox 2 and 3. The differences
in geometry between these sand packets
is due to lower pore pressure from offset
well drainage in the Wilcox 4 that results in
much larger stress differences between the
sand and bounding shale, leading to good
fracture confinement.
Fracture engineering consisting of mini-
fracs and stepdown tests was performed
to determine closure pressure and lack of
tortuosity. Net pressure history matching
was then performed to model the created
fracture geometry and determine optimum
proppant and treatment size. Fracture and
production modeling showed that 20-40
Ottawa Sand could be substituted for higher
strength RCS. Also, a reduction in current
job sizes of about 40% will obtain an optimal
length of 500’ for the Wilcox 4, sacrificing
little productivity and optimizing the
economic return from fracs on new wells. In
the Wilcox 2 and 3, smaller job sizes result in
less fluid and proppant being placed outside
the pay zone, resulting in a more efficient
frac. For more details on this project, see
SPE 60314.
C A S E S T U DY 04ES
 C ASE STUDY 04ES
04

Wilcox 4 Stimulation
100.0 50.0
2000 2000
Slurry Rate (bpm) -7800 C88D Wilcox 3 (Stage2)
Observed Net (psi)
80.0
1600 Prop Concentraion (ppg)
40.0
1600
-8000

Perforation Intervals
Net Pressure (psi)
-8200

Depth (ft)
60.0 30.0 8300
1200 1200
-8400 8340
8500
40.0 20.0
800 800 -8600 8560
C88D Wilcox 4 (Stage 1)
20.0 10.0 -8800
400 400
-9000
0.0
0
0.0
0
-1000 -750 -500 -250 0 250 500 750 1000
100.0 150.0 200.0 250.0 300.0 350.0
Time (minutes)
Distance (ft)

Net pressure history matching was performed and modeled fracture geometry Downhole Tiltmeter measured frac height and length from two stages in the
was calibrated using fracture mapping measurements while honoring the Wilcox 3 and 4 intervals. Current fracs are typically 650'-750' half length but
pressure data. Economic analysis determined the optimal frac length for economic optimum was determined to be 500'.
undepleted areas in the Wilcox 4 to be 500'.

THE RESULTS
Well placement strategy in the Culebra
portion of the field should be based on
fracture drainage patterns consistent with
regional stress orientation (NNE-SSW). From
geomechanical modeling studies performed,
fracture azimuths in the Arcabuz portion of
the field are expected to propagate parallel
to the nearest fault.
Integrating fracture mapping with a detailed
fracture modeling study identified significant
economic opportunities, including a
new design to reduce treatment size and
proppant costs with targeted savings of
over $11 million. Additionally, re-fracture
treatments were designed to take advantage Houston 281– 876 –2323
of the intervals with higher stress contrasts,
resulting in fractures longer than original, Denver 720 –344 –3464
increasing recovery by an average of 3 BCF
Calgary 403–516 –2260
per well and increasing cash flow by over
$6 million. The total economic benefit
Bakersfield 661–335–7711
to Pemex of applying Pinnacle’s fracture
mapping and fracture engineering to San Francisco 415– 861–1097
optimize this field is more than $50 million
dollars over the next 7 years. Dallas 972– 401– 0090
Delft 31–15–219 – 0062

Moscow 7– 495–781– 4820

Beijing 86 –13838562150
Gas rate for initial frac (mscf/d)
Oklahoma City 405–604–5634
Gas rate for re-frac (mscf/d)
15000 Refracture treatments in Midland 432–386 – 6791
original stress= 7500 psi
older, more permeable Wilcox
original pressure= 6400 psi
12000 original length=400 ft 4 wells can significantly Reynosa 52– 892– 42191
increase production due to
current stress= 5300psi lower closure stress, hence
9000 current pressure= 4050 psi
Cairo 2025283356 – 8
mscf/d

better containment and the

re-frac length=740 ft
ability to achieve much longer
6000 lengths for the same size job
compared to the original
3000 treatments. Forecasted here
for this well is an incremental
0 3 BCF in less than 7 years.
0 730 1460 2190 2920 3650
Time (days) WWW.PINNTECH.COM
©2007 Pinnacle Technologies,Inc. All Rights Reserved.

I07