Jaxon Caines, technology reporter, Hart Energy: There's increased pressure on operators to improve performance. While the industry captures diagnostics, there are challenges in synthesizing the information captured to make better decisions.
So Garrett, what's the importance of simulations for the oil and gas industry?
Garrett Fowler, COO, ResFrac: Well, one of the primary challenges that we have is that we're working on rocks that are two, three miles underneath our feet and we can't see what's going on. And so we need some sort of mathematical model to describe what is happening in the subsurface and why. And that's what we can employ to make better decisions. And that's what ResFrac supplies.
JC: What makes combining reservoir and hydraulic fracturing simulations difficult?
GF: Well, the two processes are fundamentally happening on different scales. So if you think of reservoir flow through rock, you're talking inches, centimeters per day, even per year. Whereas when you're cracking rock and creating a hydraulic fracture, we are breaking rock a thousand feet away in less than an hour. And reconciling those two different timescales and length scales computationally is quite difficult. And that's the core of our technology.
JC: Here at URTeC, what is ResFrac talking about?
GF: Well, we have a variety of papers this week. One of my favorite is one that we co-authored with Chesapeake Energy, and the subject was refracs in the Eagle Ford. But the twist of it was that when we were doing the modeling, Chesapeake did not give us the results of the refrac of the two wells that were in the study. And so we built models of the primary production for the two wells, and then had to blindly predict how those refracs performed. Only afterwards did they give us the actual data, and we were spot on. So it makes a great case study, makes a great paper. And it's one that we're happy to have presented this week with Chesapeake.
JC: Well, Garrett, thank you for your time. Explore frac simulations at hartenergy.com/ep.
Recommended Reading
CEO: Continental Adds Midland Basin Acreage, Explores Woodford, Barnett
2024-04-11 - Continental Resources is adding leases in Midland and Ector counties, Texas, as the private E&P hunts for drilling locations to explore. Continental is also testing deeper Barnett and Woodford intervals across its Permian footprint, CEO Doug Lawler said in an exclusive interview.
CNX, Appalachia Peers Defer Completions as NatGas Prices Languish
2024-04-25 - Henry Hub blues: CNX Resources and other Appalachia producers are slashing production and deferring well completions as natural gas spot prices hover near record lows.
Equinor Says EQT Asset Swap Upgrades International Portfolio
2024-04-30 - Equinor CFO Torgrim Reitan says the company’s recent U.S. asset swap with EQT Corp. was an example of the European company “high-grading” its international E&P portfolio.
Barnett & Beyond: Marathon, Oxy, Peers Testing Deeper Permian Zones
2024-04-29 - Marathon Oil, Occidental, Continental Resources and others are reaching under the Permian’s popular benches for new drilling locations. Analysts think there are areas of the basin where the Permian’s deeper zones can compete for capital.
ConocoPhillips: Permian Basin a ‘Growth Engine’ for Lower 48
2024-05-15 - ConocoPhillips views the Permian Basin as a “growth engine” within its Lower 48 portfolio, the company’s Midland Basin Vice President Nick McKenna said during Hart Energy’s SUPER DUG event in Fort Worth.