Background To Record-Setting Frack Stages In The Bakken -- November 25, 2014

Updates

November 28, 2014: see the comment dated November 28, 2014. It is from one of the engineers involved in the 94-stage frack. There must be a real sense of accomplishment to be part of history, in this case setting a world record for number of successful frack stages. I have been a member of many different "teams" over the years involved in some task, and it is difficult to articulate how rewarding it is to be part of a team doing important work. The camaraderie is incredible; what appears to be "work" turns out to be not work, no matter how hard the job is, or how long it takes, or how little sleep one gets until the task is complete. Earlier this evening I posted a "bit" on an article in The New Yorker that talks about this;

Read the short article "When General Motors Was Google," in the current issue of The New Yorker, and look at the bits about Google and Microsoft:

Google doesn't stress out about work-life balance among its employees: work this meaningful and fulfilling isn't just work. When Laszlo Bock talks about what he's learned at Google, he isn't just giving you career advice; he's giving you life advice.

I would think that while completing that 94-stage frack, those involved must have had that same feeling -- that "work this meaningful and fulfilling isn't just work."

Thirty years from now, a lot of veteran Bakken roughnecks and geologists will be telling their grandchildren about the time they drilled a record well in a blizzard, with wind chills 60 degrees below zero, and they had to walk uphill both ways going to and returning from their rig to do it.

November 25, 2014: so it all comes together -- the 94-stage and 102-stage fracks that set world records for fracking, were done in the Bakken by NCS for Whiting which in turn set IP records. It will be interesting to see how much proppant was used:

• 27520, 7,824 boe, Whiting, Flatland Federal 11-4TFH, upper Three Forks Cycle 1, Twin Valley, gas ranged from 150 unit so 9,274 units.
• 27521, 7,120 boe, Whiting, Flatland Federal 11-4HR, middle Bakken, target zone about 42 feet thick;

November 25, 2014: see first comment, a reader notes:

EOG's recent 3Q14 conference call contained an interesting exchange regarding their experimental, confidential fracking process that is producing a 39% increase above their already high IPs.

While their suits were tight-lipped about the specifics, the CEO stressed that precise, uniform placement of proppant along the wellbore was both crucial and responsible for the high production.

Sounds like coiled-tube fracking.

Original Post

Remember that post on record-setting number of frack stages in the Bakken (and earlier, in the Eagle Ford). Here's the update of the technology over at Rigzone.

A technology originally used for coalbed methane operations can allow oil and gas operators to conduct more accurate hydraulic fracturing operations.

Officials with Houston-based NCS Multistage Unlimited – formerly known as NCS Energy Services and NCS Oilfield Services in Canada – say their award-winning, unlimited coiled-tubing fracturing system offers a more effective alternative to the plug-and-perf and ball sleeve frac systems that have been widely used in oil and gas operations.

As the number of stages of U.S. shale wells rises, completion methods such as plug and perf and ball sleeves become less effective, said NCS President Tim Willems in an interview with Rigzone at the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition last month in Amsterdam.

In both methods, operators can’t tell how the formation in the frac zone is responding to fluids sent down a well, and have no way of managing how water and chemicals are being consumed. They are also left with no resources when a screen out occurs.

In the United States, a plug and perf operation might have four sets of perforations, then pump fluid at a rate of 100 barrels a minute hoping to get 25 barrels in one perforation and 25 in another, but analysis might show that one is taking more fluid than the others, Willems noted.

The article at the link has the full story.

The article ends:

“The reason we can set all the records we have is because we’re doing one stage at a time,” said Warren Williford, NCS marketing director, told Rigzone.

The company is preparing to do a 100-stage well in Texas.

I think that well was reported earlier.

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Speaking of Records

MacRumors is reporting:

Apple's stock continues its strong recent performance, hitting another milestone today with a market capitalization of $700 billion and once again setting a new standard as the highest market cap in history before pulling back slightly. The mark comes less than two weeks after Apple's market cap passed $660 billion to set its first new high in two years. 

As usual, the comments are most interesting, and some are most inane.