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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JungleInvestor who wrote (42310)	4/15/1999 8:02:00 PM
From: Aggie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95453

J.I., hello. Wow, you did a lot of work! OK, so if they're monitoring one well's flow test with another well that means they're into a fracture type production mechanism, most likely. It's not uncommon for well-developed fractures to be intersected by more than one well. "SEV introduced cement to an underbalanced reservoir." Well, that doesn't make sense, I suspect they mean that formation pressures are sub-normal - a common problem in carbonate formation sequences - and that their cement job ended up in the wrong place, instead of up around the casing. Now they're stuck with water production from a zone that should have been isolated by the cement job. There are a couple of options available for this problem, depending on the mechanical/geometric conditions. The acidization they speak of, to correct "skin damage" is a treatment to improve the formation characteristics near the wellbore. Essentially, they think the formation around the bore has become plugged to some degree because of the drilling process. This seeks to dissolve that limestone and expose untouched (hence more permeable) formation. Both of these problems can be pre-empted by drilling the well underbalanced, so that the drilling fluids don't invade and damage the formation. This can be done by foaming the drilling fluid, or by injecting compressed air downhole to lighten the fluid column. This can be taken to the point of drilling with a controlled blowout, where the well is actuallly producing formation fluids (oil, gas, water) while drilling proceeds. This way, the drilling fluids won't invade and damage the reservoir. In south Texas, there have been some wells which have produced sufficient oil while drilling in this mode to pay for the drilling and completion of the well - Like getting return on your investment before the check clears! This process requires special pressure-control equipment/personnel at an additional cost. In the early days, the cost of this additional spread could exceed the cost of the rig and associated equipment. Nowadays it's much more reasonable. It's good to hear that the fractured shales that plague BP do not appear to be a problem here. I suspect they have sought ot cure this problem with a combination of addtiional casing strings and highly inhibitive mud systems. These shales are typically time-dependant, so the strategy is usually to get them drilled and cased as fast as possible. All in all, this sounds like a play that can be suitably managed with horizontal drainholes as I described before. I would be leery of fracture treatments until they are absolutely sure about their water contacts. I hope that the producing infrastructure comes together, in the meantime good luck with your investment. Regards, Aggie