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Cardium Formation Hydraulic “Frac” Microseismic: Observations and Conclusions
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Duhault, John L. J. |
| Copyright Year | 2012 |
| Abstract | In 2010, Petrobakken Energy acquired several companies with resource play potential in the Cardium of Central Alberta. After the first year of encouraging results the company set out to further evaluate these properties in 2011 and drilled an additional 120 wells into the Cardium formation. Multistage hydraulic fracture stimulations ("fracs") from horizontal wellbores were employed to evaluate these properties with varying results. After reviewing several months of production profiles, several questions were being asked. Why were the results so variable? Was it because of the geology, the reservoir pressure, or the frac style, and what technologies should we utilize to maximize our frac efficiencies and well productivity. Microseismic was acquired in eight separate projects to answer some of these questions. As this work is still ongoing at PetroBakken, this paper will present some of the current observations and pose further questions to be answered from additional technical work. Introduction and Background PetroBakken's Cardium lands lie from just north of Cochrane to the "halo" flanks of the East and West Pembina Cardium pools south of Drayton Valley. The Upper Cretaceous, Turorian, Cardium formation includes repeated, stacked successions of silty mudstone through siltstones to very fine to fine grained sandstones. These units are unconformably overlain by chert-pebble conglomerates which in turn are overlain by marine mudstones. The thicker, highly permeable conventional reservoirs have been exploited since the 50's. The current focus on the tight oil Cardium play is on the margins of conventional fields where the gross reservoir is up to twelve meters thick and with the net sandstone thickness varies between three to seven meters. The measured reservoir pressure over the study area varies from a depleted pressure of 7 mPa to virgin pressures of over 22 mPa. The maximum stress direction based on published literature was estimated to be perpendicular to the Rocky Mountains or towards the NE. PetroBakken monitors it's Frac performance seeking to improve frac efficiencies and so during this study time several frac types were analyzed including, Slick water, Gelled oil, and Foamed water. |
| Starting Page | 1 |
| Ending Page | 5 |
| Page Count | 5 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1190/segam2012-0835.1 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://cseg.ca/assets/files/resources/abstracts/2012/302_GC2012_Cardium_Formation_Hydraulic_Frac_Microseismic.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1190/segam2012-0835.1 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
