stim promise

8/12/2019 Stim Promise

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The Promise of Stimulation:Understanding + Total Approach = Optimum Value

T h e e co n om i c r e a l i t i e s o f e n e r g y ' s f u t u r e m a k e e f f e c t i v e w e l l

s t i m u l a t i o n c r i t i c a l t o o p t i m i z i n g t h e v a l u e o f t h e a s se t t h a t i s a n o i l

o r g a s r e s er v o i r .

A well stimulation program that fully exploits available technology can substantially boost

revenue and profit throughout a field's life. For marginal discoveries, the right stimulation

program may mean the difference between economic viability and abandonment.

New stimulation techniques and products - hardware and fluids - make fit-for-purpose

solutions possible for a wide range of well configurations and reservoir conditions.

The key to realizing the full potential of these technologies is understanding the reservoir

and its wells, then integrating discrete products and services in a program that will

optimize reservoir performance. At the earliest possible date, that stimulation program

should be made part of the field development plan.

To succeed, this systems approach requires cooperative teamwork between producer and

technology provider.

From nitro to now

Oil and gas well stimulation is as old as the industry itself. Shooting wells to increase

production by placing nitroglycerin at the bottom of the hole was done as early as the

1860s. Acidizing, first used to treat wells producing from limestone formations more than

100 years ago, became a widely used technique in the 1930s. Mud acid soon was

developed for formations other than limestone.

Halliburton established an acid laboratory in 1934, one of the first labs devoted to learning

more about the emerging science of stimulation.

Hydraulic fracturing, introduced in 1947, is applied routinely to more than half of U.S. gas

wells and a third of oil wells. By the 1990s, more than a million hydraulic fracturing

treatments had been performed, adding billions of barrels of reserves. Halliburton led the

commercialization of this important technique.


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Technology has dramatically cut finding costs in recent years, but lifting costs have

remained relatively flat. Combining a systems approach to production optimization with

the most advanced discrete technologies to reduce lifting costs is a significant opportunity

for companies and their operators.

Changing organizations and shifting resources have added urgency to the economic

challenge. To respond to growing cost pressures and changing workforce demographics,

oil and gas producers increasingly are focusing on managing producing assets and shifting

more responsibility to technology providers.

An ongoing need to reduce the physical footprint of energy production operations and

lower the risk of environmental damage is an important challenge.

Much progress already has been made. Advances in 3-D seismic technology and

widespread use of horizontal drilling, for example, have resulted in significantly fewer

wells and more efficient field development, lowering environmental impact. And new

drilling and completion methods have reduced the amount of waste generated.

New stimulation fluids and techniques significantly reduce environmental risk and the

need for waste disposal.

This three-pronged challenge - to make stimulation treatments more effective in

increasing production, further lower producing costs and continue to reduce

environmental risk - will remain for the foreseeable future.

Continuing education

The key to achieving these goals is an intimate understanding of the reservoir combined

with a systems approach that integrates appropriate stimulation technologies.

Understanding the reservoir and fine-tuning operating parameters as the field matures is

possible because of a powerful combination of advanced measurement techniques and

devices, sophisticated communication technology and massive computer power.

The foundation of Halliburton's total approach to stimulation treatment design is a

detailed reservoir analysis, putting into context porosity, permeability, fluid saturation,

rock stress, tectonics, lithology, pressure and more.

From initial production to abandonment, however, the geomechanical properties of the

reservoir evolve, making reservoir analysis a continuing process. In some deepwater


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