Completions
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Intelligent completions could improve many of the world’s oil and gas wells, but not all are suited to the technology. There is another option.
Casing deformation has emerged as a major challenge in China’s unconventional oil and gas fields, prompting the development of new solutions to address the issue.
The US supermajor is using one of its lowest-value hydrocarbon products to generate double-digit production increases in its most prolific US asset.
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A new unconventional proppant technology—a rod-shaped proppant—delivered 25% higher oil per net pay compared with offset wells using conventional proppant. -
A refracturing campaign in the Permian yielded a production gain that allowed payback on the investment within 6–12 months.
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The integration of microseismic data with 3D seismic attributes, and well log and completions data is used to understand geomechanical rock properties.
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A new proppant exhibits a neutrally wet surface, which does not have a preferential affinity for oil, gas, or water and therefore will not promote the preferential entrapment of any phase within the proppant pack.
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Hydraulic fracturing exerts transient geomechanical forces near the wellbore, enabling a brief time interval in which a second hydraulic fracture can be created in a different direction.
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The oil-economy downturn will not affect the areas where research, development, and application of novel technologies are absolutely necessary for the commercialization of hydrocarbon.
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While many factors may influence fracture-height evolution in multilayer formations, the consensus is that the so-called “equilibrium height belonging to a certain treating pressure” provides an upper limit, at least for nonnaturally fractured media.
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A pair of inventive companies are working on a way to allow microseismic tests to visualize the otherwise silent process of propping fractures.
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Developers of the latest generation of unconventional hydraulic fracturing models are hoping that current weak oil and gas prices will generate newfound interest in their software technology.
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I am disappointed to see public opposition to hydraulic fracturing, because I think, for the biggest part, it is unfounded. It would be inaccurate to deny that there can be problems. But an objective look reveals that its benefits far outweigh its potential risks.
