Guest Editorial: Are We “Refracturing” or “Recompleting” with Mechanically Isolated Subsequent Stimulations in Organic Shales?
Authors: Barba Robert 
Published: April 2024

Numerous articles and technical papers have shown that perforating and fracture stimulating previously undrained rock in wide-cluster-spaced legacy organic shale wellbores can result in superior economics to new wells in many areas. With advances in mechanical isolation operators can seal off the narrow existing drainage intervals in legacy wells to enable stimulations to focus on “new rock.”

In one reservoir-pressure-monitoring pilot well drilled by ConocoPhillips in 2016 it was observed that 85% of the lateral interval was not being drained where the original completion had 50-ft cluster spacing. The observation well was 70 ft away from the producing parent well.

For wells that have relatively wide well spacings (over 600 ft), the post-stimulation total enhanced ultimate recovery (EUR) can be from three to four times the original EUR.

The two most active operators doing these types of stimulations in the Eagle Ford Shale (ConocoPhillips and Devon) are primarily doing protective treatments in parent wells to avoid significant child well EUR losses from asymmetric fractures.

In URTeC 3724057, Barba et al. demonstrated that when parent wells are restimulated following mechanical isolation the combined NPV10 of the post-stimulation production from the parent and the EUR preservation from the children is significantly higher than a new well’s NPV10.

The first-order child wells will have asymmetric fracs running home toward the parents and stranding 40% of the reserves on their distal side if a protective refrac is not done on the parent, as was shown in SPE 213075. The second-order child wells have an average of a 20% EUR loss.

Discussions with operators and presentations by upper management concerning this damage indicate that other than a few of the main players doing these subsequent stimulations, not all operators are aware of the detrimental effects of asymmetric fractures.

A major operator presenting at the 2023 SUPER DUG Conference mentioned that they saw positive production increases when Bakken parent wells had fracture-driven interactions (FDIs) from offset child-well fracs. When the author asked the presenter in the Q&A session if they were concerned about the EUR damage from the asymmetric fractures which resulted in these FDIs, he was clearly not aware that it was a problem.

For those who might not fully grasp the nuances of challenging parent-child interactions, consider the situation of parents supporting adult children who have not yet achieved independence. The goal for these parents is to encourage self-reliance and maturity, rather than a return to a dependent lifestyle. In the context of well management, the parent-well protective refrac is also designed to enable child wells to achieve their maximum production potential.

While these protective recompletions in legacy parent wells can provide a significant economic benefit, the treatments have not been accepted by all operators as a tool to significantly grow company asset value. There is little or no activity in areas where all the wells on a pad are legacy parent wells with no nearby children.