Hybrid Workflow Enables Efficient Field Development Planning and Execution

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper URTeC 4043465, “A New Hybrid Workflow for Cost-Effective and Efficient Field Development Planning and Execution,” by Jesse D. Williams-Kovacs, SPE, and Dmitry Deryushkin, Subsurface Dynamics; and Brian Hepburn, SPE, Whitecap Resources, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. _ A large technological gap exists between the end of the fracturing process and the accumulation of long-term production data for the purpose of performing a meaningful analysis. Flowback analysis (FBA) has emerged as a successful technology to address this challenge without incurring incremental field costs and directly ties geomechanical properties of the rock to completion and well production. In the complete paper, a hybrid hydraulic fracture optimization and field development workflow is demonstrated that uses several recently introduced applications of FBA along with other commonly applied multidisciplinary analysis methods. Theory and Methods The authors propose a workflow designed to work alongside existing development processes. This novel approach seeks to rectify the shortcomings of static mapping and the data limitations of advanced numerical simulations and is developed to complement these workflows to form a comprehensive hybrid workflow for asset development. A diagram of the workflow is illustrated in Fig. 1. The utility of the described workflow is multifaceted, but the authors aim to focus on the following three applications: - The asset-development stage, or what the authors term an “asset-development playbook,” which serves as a strategic guide for project execution - The evaluation of completion-design results, crucial for assessing the effectiveness of completion strategies - The exploration of new areas, specifically stepping out to new areas or geological benches, vital for the expansion and exploration of potential resources In the realm of data-driven analysis, the following four data sets, which comprise the foundational input data for the workflow, stand out for their common availability and utility in developing correlations: - Drilling data - 1D/3D geomechanics - Diagnostic fracture injection tests - FBA These data sets not only are widely accessible but also can be expanded or enhanced with more-advanced data sets and interpretations to build or improve similar correlations. The authors emphasize the accessibility of advanced workflows to most operators without the need for additional field costs for data acquisition or specialized tools.