Simulation-Based Evaluation of U-Shaped Well Performance in the Bakken, Midland, and Anadarko Shales Using Fully Coupled Hydraulic Fracturing and Reservoir Modeling

Surface constraints in mature shale developments limit where new laterals and wellheads can be placed. U-shaped wells place two parallel laterals within one surface section through a 180° turn, avoiding a second vertical section and wellhead. We compare U-shaped and two well developments in the Bakken, Midland, and Anadarko petroleum systems with fully coupled fracturing, wellbore, geomechanical, and multiphase flow simulation, holding completion intensity (40 stages per well), reservoir description, stress state, production controls, and grid identical at 1000 ft spacing. Neither configuration consistently recovered more oil: the U-shaped well’s 30-year oil EUR was 5.4% lower (Bakken), 1.2% lower (Midland), and 3.3% higher (Anadarko) than that of two wells, within the 1 to 7% spread between paired laterals and the 1.6 to 12% grid sensitivity. Grid refinement, Bakken multi-stage sub-models, and one-factor sensitivities bound the numerical uncertainty and identify oil viscosity, matrix permeability, and initial pressure as the controls on recovery; a preliminary spacing analysis showed the same response for both configurations. With state-specific production taxes, three price decks, and three discount rates, the U-shape has the higher NPV, by $1.3 MM (Bakken), $2.2 MM (Midland), and $2.0 MM (Anadarko) at 10%, an advantage produced primarily by the assumed lower capital and fixed operating cost of one wellbore rather than incremental recovery.