Strategic Evolution of Multistage Completions and Fracturing in the Middle East for Sustained Productivity
Authors: Rahim Zillur , Barbero Pablo , Watson Mark 
Published: September 2023

Recent developments in tight permeability gas reservoirs in the Middle East have heightened the need for technical solutions to achieve increased and sustained production. Saving in completions and fracturing cost is one of the important targets of the oil and gas producing companies to address and compensate for the unpredictable fluctuations and downturn in hydrocarbon prices.

Previous research work has established that drilling geo-steered or geometric long lateral horizontal wells ensuring maximum reservoir contact is the first step in achieving increased production. Long laterals reduce the number of vertical wells and achieve same recovery for a much lesser cost. Further increase in production and reduction in cost lie in the optimal application of completion techniques and fracturing methodologies, aiming to maximize the number of stages, improved reservoir-to-wellbore contact, and fracturing efficiency. Much previous completions work in this area focused on maximizing the effectiveness of the well-known existing method, Plug and Perf (P&P). The expectation was to speed up operations and cut down nonproductive time. In this study, we present a different approach by introducing innovative lower-completion technology, focusing on eliminating time-consuming operations and reducing associated costs and risks without compromising with hydrocarbon recovery. Along with the upgrades in completions assemblies, hydraulic fracturing process has gone through several improvement steps and has been optimized considering reservoir quality, completion configuration, and overall development strategy.

The introduction of Open-Hole Multistage completion technology (OHMS) has been a game changer in recent years given its capability of delivering high stage count and the flexibility. The technology allows choosing between single entry point or multi-entry point ball-activated sliding sleeves per segment or stage. The technology also allows hybrid type assemblies in a single installation. The versatile nature of this system along with overall operational efficiency, higher production, and optimized fracture placement has attracted many operators worldwide.

OHMS systems use progressively increasing activation ball diameters to open each stimulation stage. High differential pressure open-hole packers are used in the annular spaces between casing and formation as per design, isolating entry injection points in each completion segment. This helps achieving independent hydraulic fractures and avoiding overlaps between adjacent treatments ensuring long and conductive induced fractures. Customization of completion placements and fracturing treatments are conducted by properly analyzing available reservoir data and geomechanical properties.

In this paper, evolution of OHMS in Middle East region is presented along with qualitative and quantitative calculations of field cases. Two wells, Well-A and Well-B, completed using OHMS and applying limited entry technique, are compared against offset wells completed with routine P&P technology.