Refracs Emerging as Option for Growing Production

Completion designs have rapidly evolved over the past few years, serving as one of the drivers behind the exponential production growth of U.S. shale. However, the brisk evolution of those designs has resulted in scores of unconventional wells completed with outdated techniques and inferior fracture intensity, which subsequently has led to unrecovered—but certainly accessible—hydrocarbons.

Meanwhile, the oil and gas industry presently finds itself in a bit of a fix. Investors are demanding operators
be cash flow positive, but they also want to see production growth. How can operators improve their production amounts while also curbing activity to shave costs? There are likely many answers to that question, but one could be well refractures.

Refracturing a well is a risk/reward proposition, as some in the industry have discovered. At the February SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference and Exhibition, Devon Energy’s John Bennett presented a paper on the results of his company testing a set of 15 liner refracs on wells that were understimulated in their Eagle Ford operations.