Unconventional solutions in Petrel subsurface software

An integrated workflow to improve well landing points, pad placement and completion design to create an efficient field development plan for shale resources.

The main challenges involved in producing unconventional resources are establishing where and at what level to land the laterals, how to space the wells, and the optimal completion design to fully maximize the resource. These decisions are streamlined using Petrel subsurface software and integrated Kinetix shale reservoir-centric stimulation-to-production software, which have been specifically engineered for unconventional resources.

The amounts of data that unconventional resources generate are huge. Geoscience, drilling, completions, production, operations, and surface facilities information need to be brought together and analyzed rapidly to keep pace with the drilling program. Integrating and harnessing all this data via the Petrel platform is key to understanding well viability and maximizing every part of the resource.

The heterogeneity of unconventional resources affects the ultimate productivity of the resource, and being able to target multiple benches requires that you can understand the reservoir in 3D. Optimizing well spacing in each bench to maximize production and minimize interference is critical to success. The Petrel platform integrates geophysics, geology, petrophysics, completions data, reservoir engineering, and geomechanics into an earth model for a repeatable workflow to harness all the available data, providing operators with an efficient and productive unconventional reservoir system.

Unique cross-domain integration

By enabling simple and efficient geological and geophysical map-based evaluations, Petrel subsurface software streamlines the initial evaluation phase. Creating maps from the geological tops and then porosity, a stress-property distribution from logs, seismic, and inversion data provides a clearer picture of the resource. Well locations and kickoff points designed with Petrel are collaboratively iterated with the drilling team.

Once the landing points and spacing have been defined and executed to plan, the well is evaluated to establish the optimal completion design and hydraulic stimulation entirely within the platform.

Kinetix shale software is the only hydraulic fracturing design software that is integrated directly with the fracture network and completion data to evaluate multiple design scenarios. Utilizing the power of the cloud, multiple realizations are generated to ensure the selection of the most productive and efficient design. This allows operators to understand how the formation will respond to a specific stimulation design and how offset wells will be affected. Fracturing hits are a common cause for production dropoff on child wells, and Kinetix shale software can assist in minimizing the interference. 

End-to-end optimization

Unconventional development within Petrel subsurface software is specifically designed to maximize productivity and efficiency, spanning the five key themes common to unconventional workflows:

• Exploration: The exploration tools integral to Petrel provide rapid initial screening workflows, helping to determine the acreage to pursue
• Evaluation: The platform provides streamlined workflows to create maps and cross-sections to correlate the geology and integrated seismic and inversion techniques, delivering a greater understanding of the subsurface
• Drilling: Petrel well and pad design optimizes well landing points, position, and spacing
• Completion: Techlog completion and shale advisory modules are directly integrated with Petrel subsurface software to establish the perforation positions and cluster spacing.
Kinetix Shale software integrates the geological and operational pumping data to design the stimulation program
• Production: Petrel enables operators to integrate production and geoscience data to gain a greater understanding of how production relates to geology

Optimize well spacing, well stacking, and well completions in the cloud

Characterizing well spacing, well stacking, and well completion optimization in the Permian Basin: An improved and efficient workflow using cloud-based computing

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