Introduction to Re-fracturing Fundamentals

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Disciplines: Production and Operations

Course Description

With the drop in oil prices, a large amount of capital spent on the maintaining of production and cash flow from drilling new wells is being diverted to lower cost recompletions, particularly refracturing.  It only costs 15 to 25% of the original completions costs for refracturing but initial production can often be achieved again however with varying results in new production declines. Although this course will focus on multistage fractured horizontal wells, there is a rich history of vertical well refracturing in the last 40 years to simplify the leap to horizontals concepts and unique multistage horizontal challenges.  Some background and statistics by industry will be revealed leading to an understanding of the refrac well inventory that is mounting for well candidate selection.  Frac optimization and refrac design parameters will be discussed to understand how they differ from the initial primary well's production. Case studies of where refracturing or re-stimulation has worked will also be reviewed.

Topics:

• Introduction to refracturing
• Methods for Economic Evaluation
• Primary Completions that Lead to Refracs
• Reasons for Refracturing
• Refrac Candidate Identification
• How Big is the Refrac Market
• Frac Design and Modeling Considerations
• Evaluating the Success of Refracs
• Case Studies and Examples

Learning Level

Introductory to Intermediate

Course Length

1 Day

Why Attend

Before tackling the challenges and issues of refracturing your own wells, or if your business is going to be part of the service industry affected by refracturing, this course will cover basic to advanced topics including how these jobs are being done.  Unconventional oil wells need to be abandoned or refractured at about 5 years, and unconventional gas wells need to be abandoned or refractured at about 10 years, and currently there are 10,000’s of wells that need to be evaluated for refracturing and industry is focusing on these lower cost methods of replacing their declining production.

Who Attends

This course is intended for production and completion engineers, geologists, field operation staff, and economists who are familiar with the fracturing process and interested in how refracturing is becoming a major future activity and catch up on what has been done already.

CEUs

0.8 CEUs (Continuing Education Units) are awarded for this 1-day course.

Additional Resources

This course has a supplemental book located in our SPE Bookstore entitled Hydraulic Fracturing: Fundamentals and Advancements. Please check out this valuable resource!

Cancellation Policy

All cancellations must be received no later than 14 days prior to the course start date. Cancellations made after the 14-day window will not be refunded. Refunds will not be given due to no show situations.

Training sessions attached to SPE conferences and workshops follow the cancellation policies stated on the event information page. Please check that page for specific cancellation information.

SPE reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule courses at will. Notification of changes will be made as quickly as possible; please keep this in mind when arranging travel, as SPE is not responsible for any fees charged for cancelling or changing travel arrangements.

We reserve the right to substitute course instructors as necessary.

Instructor