Exploration and Production (E&P) Technology in the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry
The Miracle of Shale Production
Advances in hydraulic fracturing have allowed firms to tap large resource plays, such as tight gas and shale oil that had been previously uneconomic.
Advances in hydraulic fracturing have allowed firms to tap large resource plays, such as tight gas and shale oil that had been previously uneconomic.
- Two relatively recent innovations in hydraulic fracturing are
central to the development of non-conventional resources:
- Slickwater fracks
- Multistage frack completions which routinely use between 20-40
stages per lateral, though we are seeing more reports of 60 -100
stage completions.
- The slickwater fracs are lower cost per gallon and are more
effective in wedging productive channels into shales and tight sands
necessary to achieve economically viable production.
- Multistage fracturing has proved essential in effectively stimulating increasing rock volume in a cost effective manner along the length of the lateral.
Bakken: How Fracks Look in Practice |
The image to the left gives an indication of how much of the reservoir volume around a shale oil horizontal lateral is contacted using the multistage fracking process. The white lines represent drilled wellbores. The blue lines represent identified fractures created by the hydraulice fracking process. One of the technology develoopment focus areas in the shale plays is to fill in all the black space between the blue areas. This imperative, explains the trend towards more stages per lateral, and shorter distances between stages. |