22617 -- A Reader Comments

A reader commented on the post below:

For quite sometime, I have speculated that the vast, underground 'grid' of 5,000 foot/10,000 foot long wellbores may ultimately be utilized in some fashion to capture FAR more than the original 3 to 5 % of the OOIP that early wells have recovered Looking at the profile of #22617, some outlines of what may be happening seem plausible, but still unverified.

Specifically, that 30 stage #22617 well is almost definitely a sliding sleeve completion (as were just about all Continental's early wells).

In addition to 're-pressurizing' the well to inhibit sand intrusuin from new, nearby fracs, some additional protective steps may have also been implemented. (A Canadian outfit used closable sleeves years ago. I do not know if this well has that type).

Whatever preparatory steps for this well were used, it is plausible to think that nearby fracs 'encroached', aka created way more NEW fractures coming from either side (from the 2 new adjacent wells on either side) right up to - or very close to - the original #22617 wellbore.

The new wells are both creating and MAINTAINING very high pressure 'bubbles' underground with the now near-ubiquitous Extreme Limited Entry perforation technique.

These high pressure 'bubbles' are opening the ALREADY EXISTING fractures that pre-exist in ALL shale plays, and emplacing the small, 100 mesh proppant to keep the fracs open. (Only about 10% of the formation has been stimulated in most every completion up to the 2016 timeframe).

Then, maintaining the now highly charged pressure form the frac (witness the 6 month, controlled drawdown numbers of both oil and produced water output), higher pressure and WAY more stimulated/propped rock are contributing to the 'old' well's new production.

Essentially, the latest iterations of completions are being retroactively applied to older wells by simply shutting them down/protecting (somehow) from proppant intrusion, stimulating WAY more rock from either side ... right up to/near the older wellbore, and then maintaining the new, higher underground pressure to drive the now-extensive frac network to recover/produce way more of the original, in place, hydrocarbons.

The post on which the reader was commenting:

Jump in production from 2,000 bbls/month to 16,497 bbls/month; no re-frack according to FracFocus or NDIC file report.

The well:

• 22617, 448, CLR, Sorenson 1-21AH, 30 stages; 2.8 million lbs, Alkali Creek, t2/13; cum 343K 2/20;

The CLR Sorenson wells are tracked here.

Graphics: also at the Sorenson link above --

Recent production:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	2-2020	29	4807	4639	4303	10505	10054	70
BAKKEN	1-2020	30	5610	5881	5170	10790	10199	200
BAKKEN	12-2019	30	8957	8748	7803	12961	10484	2087
BAKKEN	11-2019	30	13843	13691	11727	22121	10469	11256
BAKKEN	10-2019	23	9004	9390	7757	13695	3416	9994
BAKKEN	9-2019	30	14137	14169	13728	21180	1238	19537
BAKKEN	8-2019	31	15074	15068	14915	22636	3357	18860
BAKKEN	7-2019	31	14404	14436	13814	19228	806	18009
BAKKEN	6-2019	30	14552	14651	15758	16402	1313	14685
BAKKEN	5-2019	31	16497	15923	13543	18057	6233	11405
BAKKEN	4-2019	6	1256	1276	496	54	0	0
BAKKEN	3-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	2-2019	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	1-2019	16	897	945	336	1987	1771	0
BAKKEN	12-2018	31	1886	1966	778	3961	3234	310
BAKKEN	11-2018	30	1811	1812	696	3473	2927	141
BAKKEN	10-2018	31	1930	1882	793	3673	2664	590