Augmented Depletion Development Technology Assessed Across US Shale Plays
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: September 2024

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This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 217792, “Assessment of Augmented Depletion Development Technology Across US Shale Plays,” by Ahmed Merzoug, SPE, Texas A&M University, and Vibhas J. Pandey, SPE, ConocoPhillips. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

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The concept of augmented depletion development (ADD) was introduced to the industry through a pilot project conducted in the Bakken play in the US. These wells are openhole wells drilled within the fractured network of a pad. They are not fracture stimulated deliberately but do produce and contribute to the overall production of the lease. In this study, numerical modeling is used to understand the potential performance of these wells in several plays across the US. The learnings from this study can be used as a benchmark for operators that are planning on implementing such wells in their field development programs.

Theoretical Basis of Study

The concept of ADD can be modeled using a similar approach to the analytical solutions developed for flow into a multistage fractured horizontal well. In these wells, several regimes can be identified, such as transient linear flow and boundary-dominated flow. In previous work in the literature that proposed a method for analyzing production data of linear flow of fractured gas wells, fractures were assumed to have infinite dimensionless conductivity. Those researchers proposed a solution for a constant bottomhole-pressure liquid flow that is described in the present complete paper by a series of equations.

For the case used by the present authors, a well spacing of 300 ft is assumed, implying that the perpendicular distance from the wellbore to a corresponding boundary is 150 ft, which is half the spacing between the fractured well and the ADD well (assuming each well drains half the fracture length).

To elaborate further for better understanding of production, a plot of product of cumulative dimensionless rate and formation permeability (as a proxy for cumulative rate) while assuming all other properties behave the same shows that, with higher permeability, the recovery potential not only increases but also appears to accelerate. This supports the concept that, during the time of production of ADD wells, it is preferable to have higher permeabilities that can support faster production in zones that the primary wells may not drain effectively. The results of the analytical equation are for only one fracture but can be readily extended to multifractured horizontal wells using superposition methods.

Methodology

This study uses physics-based numerical modeling to simulate the performance of ADD wells in different plays. The numerical code simulates wellbore flow, hydraulic fracturing, geomechanics, and reservoir flow, all in the same package. The fracture and reservoir mesh are independent. The flow between the matrix and the reservoir is calculated using the 1D submesh approximation to reduce the computation expenses with higher accuracy. The hydraulic fracturing propagation algorithm uses a tip-tracking algorithm to allow the use of larger grid size without compromising accuracy in layered formations. The fracture conductivity is calculated with stress changes. The conductivity profile changes from a propped fracture into an unpropped fracture. The unpropped fracture conductivity is an underlying assumption used in this study. The collision between fractures initiated from different wells also is an assumption in this study.