Northern West Virginia Section

Biography:

Robert Shelley is the director of well performance evaluation at StrataGen. During his 38-year career, he has developed an expertise in hydraulic fracturing and reservoir evaluation of low-permeability sands, shales, and carbonates. He has focused on completion and fracture design/evaluation of multifractured horizontal wells for the past 15 years. In addition to authoring more than 30 SPE papers and articles, he holds seven patents.  Shelley earned a BS in civil engineering from Colorado State University.

Abstract:

Drilling horizontally  to  create  a  platform  from  which  many hydraulic  fractures  can  be  propagated  is  proving  to  be  an effective completion method in producing hydrocarbons from

Ultralow-permeability sand, shale, and carbonates. However, optimization of these complex completions is presenting new challenges to the industry.  Compared  with  vertical  wells,  in which  open hole  logging  and  cutting  of  core  can  be  readily performed,  there  is  frequently  limited  wellbore-specific  data available from horizontal wellbores, due to the need to reduce cycle  time,  reduce  risk,  control  costs,  and  other  operational concerns.  This  presentation  will  describe  the  challenges  and the  methodologies  being  used  to  improve  the  understanding of  hydraulic  fracturing  and  support  decision  making  in  the completion and stimulation of multifractured horizontal wellbores. Examples from several horizontal development targets, including the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales, will be presented.