A 2012 Eagle Ford well completions review and presentation to the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Houston, Texas.
Are we at a peak in drilling activity? Do operators have the capital to continue investing heavily in the Eagle Ford? We believe that rig activity will flatten out but the drilling permits will continue to rise as new rigs come online that provide more pad and batch drilling capability.
What does the drilled but not completed inventory look like? La Salle county provides a great example of an area that has an increase in permits and rigs, yet completions continue to lag behind.
What is the well completion cycle time for Eagle Ford? Many operators are showing signs of reducing the drilling days and now there is evidence of several operators standardizing the well completion design and streamlining completion operations.
How does choke size relate to initial well performance? There are numerous operators using open chokes to perform a well test. Other operators are citing choke management practices to optimize the financial return of the well.
Energent Group reviews casing and proppant trends to give a holistic picture of completion trends in the Eagle Ford.
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Energent Group: SPE Eagle Ford Completion Trends
1. EAGLE FORD COMPLETIONS LOOKBACK
SPE WESTSIDE, FEBRUARY 2013
Todd Bush
713.936.9290
todd.bush@energentgroup.com
http://www.energentgroup.com
2. Agenda
About Energent Group
Observations and discussion items
Considerations for 2013
Questions and answers
2
Objectives:
Share information and trends in Eagle Ford data
Provide data for your next benchmarking project
Demonstrate relationships for points of interest in the
well completions process
3. Observations & discussion items
Review concentration of permit activity and possible
peak in activity based on trends
1
Interpret well completion activity that has low
correlation to permit or rig activity where as permits
and rigs have (0.8) strong correlation
Relate choke size to initial production to find patterns
Confirm anecdotal evidence for proppants; most
frequent is 20/40 frac sand but others widely used
Discuss implications of typical casing sizes, which
ranges from 4” – 9” for unconventional completions
3
2
3
4
5
4. Historical drilling permit activity
1 2 3 4 5
Gas
Oil
4
Possible peak in drilling permits?
Source: Data is from Texas RRC
5. Top 5 counties driving permit activity
1 2 3 4 5
5
Source: Data is from Texas RRC
6. La Salle, Karnes, & Webb lead strong Rig activity
6
Source: SmithBits Rig Count
1 2 3 4 5
7. How many wells drilled but not completed?
7
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Jan-11
Feb-11
Mar-11
Apr-11
May-11
Jun-11
Jul-11
Aug-11
Sep-11
Oct-11
Nov-11
Dec-11
Jan-12
Feb-12
Mar-12
Apr-12
May-12
Permits Rigs Completions
Spotlight on La Salle
Permits increase by an
average of 9% each month
46 Permits per month
18 Completions per month
Backlog growing by ~15
each month
Low correlation (0.2)
between well completions
and drilling permits and rig
activity
1 2 3 4 5
Source: Data is from Texas RRC and SmithBits
8. New well completions dominate Q4 activity
1 2 3 4 5
8
COMPLETION ACTIVITY SUMMARY
COUNTY OIL GAS
IP RETEST
TOTA
L
SHARE
PCT
La Salle 85 21 106 16%
Dimmit 55 33 88 14%
Karnes 60 22 82 13%
McMullen 61 7 68 10%
De Witt 24 23 47 7%
RECLAS
S TO INJ
RECLASS
TO GAS
RECLASS
TO OIL
WELL
UPDATE
Deepening 1 1 - - - -
New Well 653 - - - 1 511
Other 90 9 21 1 6 158
Plug back 1 2 - - - 5
Reentry 1 - - - - -
TOP COUNTIES 70% OIL COMPLETIONS
Gas Oil
Source: Data is from Texas RRC in October through December 2012
9. Operators driving efficiency in Karnes county
LEADING OPERATORS
OIL IP’S BY CHOKE SIZE
CHOKE
SIZE
COUNT AVG IP
8/64 17 514
14/64 11 782
12/64 9 910
11/64 7 512
16/64 4 765
1 2 3 4 5
Operators are under 30
day completion turn-around
times and showing
signs of reducing the
variability in the process
COMPANY COUNT PCT
MIN
DAYS
AVG
DAYS
MAX
DAYS
STD DEV
Marathon 31 22% 13 27 98 20.0
Murphy E&P 29 21% 2 23 64 18.4
ConocoPhillips 24 17% 14 21 31 4.7
Plains E&P 17 12% 4 27 87 19.2
EOG 12 9% 13 18 29 5.2
9
Choke size likely dictated
by operator practices in
the region
Source: Data is from Texas RRC in October 2012
10. Choke size concentrated in 10-16/64
1 2 3 4 5
10
Distribution of Choke Size IP to Choke Size
Bigger is not necessarily better. 10/64 -16/64 accounts
for 47% of the total with 12” averaging 775 BOPD
Source: Data is from Texas RRC in October through December 2012
11. 20/40 frac sand used more than all others
Proppant Usage Across Counties
0 500 1000 1500 2000
11
20/40
40/70
10/20
12/20
16/30
30/50
18/40
50/50
14/30
16/40
40/60
Questions & Implications
What impact does
proppant have on initial
production and EUR?
Is there a strong
correlation between the
type of proppant and
location or depth?
Is there enough data and
evidence to suggest a
‘best practice’ or even a
preferred practice?
1 2 3 4 5
55%
20%
22%
Source: Data is from Texas RRC January 2011 to May 2012
12. Casing size data confirms anecdotal evidence
1 2 3 4 5
Top 10 Casing Sizes by Count Questions & Implications
12
Anecdotal evidence
indicates 4” – 9” as typical
for unconventional well;
confirmed by data
Does 10 3/4” and 13 3/8”
indicate trial well
completion designs?
Is there evidence of a
standard well construction
in certain areas?
Source: Data is from Texas RRC in October through December 2012
13. Observations & discussion items
Review concentration of permit activity and possible
peak in activity based on trends
1
Interpret well completion activity that has low
correlation to permit or rig activity where as permits
and rigs have (0.8) strong correlation
Confirm anecdotal evidence for proppants; most
frequent is 20/40 frac sand but others widely used
Relate choke size to initial production to find patterns
Discuss implications of typical casing sizes, which
ranges from 4” – 9” for unconventional completions
13
2
3
4
5
14. Summary and considerations for 2013
Utilize permit trends as a leading indicator of rig activity
systematically instead of on ad-hoc basis
Anticipate drilling programs to stay in place for 2013 unless
there is sharp decline in commodity prices
Monitor well backlog (drilled not completed) to gauge
efficiency of operators to get wells on production and to
forecast servicing company revenue
Determine influencers of completions engineering to
understand the preferred equipment and materials
Expect efficiency and cost drivers to lead operators to
further integrate lean supply chain initiatives with partners
14
15. 15
ANALYTICS AND DATA SERVICES FOR UPSTREAM
RESEARCH DATA SERVICES APPLICATIONS
Executive Weekly Briefing
Completions Activity Report
O&G Data Subscriptions D&C and Well Dashboards
Data Mining & Consulting Well Lifecycle