RBN Energy’s Housley
Carr wrote an interesting blog post about Ohio’s growing light oil/condensate
production in the Utica-Point Pleasant Shale. Carr first notes that the
superlight crude being produced from the Utica is better described as
condensate. This condensate is valued less than WTI crude. Carr notes regarding
the light oil:
“…almost all of it condensate with an API value (or
viscosity) of 55 to 59 degrees. More recently, at least a couple of E&Ps in
the Utica have been producing small volumes of “heavy condensate” with an API
value of 49 to 52-degrees — still far lighter than West Texas Intermediate
(WTI), which has an API of about 40 degrees.”
Well results have
improved for a number of reasons, discussed below. Encino, now known here as
EAP Ohio, and EOG Resources both describe the Utica volatile oil window as one
of the most economic plays in North America.
“EAP Ohio has said it is now routinely developing wells
with initial production (IP) rates of more than 1.5 Mb/d and often exceeding
that mark.”
EOG is getting IPs exceeding EAP’s rates by a little, as the
graphic below from their 3Q Earnings presentation shows.
Carr noted that future
blog posts will explore the other producers in the play, including EOG, and
“…examine the possibility that two grades of Utica
condensate will emerge, each with their own prices: “regular” condensate with
an average API of 58 degrees and heavy condensate with an average API of 52
degrees (and a range of 48 to 54 degrees)”
Drilling with Water Based Mud (WBM)
In April 2021 SLB
published a case history with drilling two Artex Oil wells, one in Muskingum
County and one in Noble County, both in the Utica oil window. Both of these
wells are now owned by EOG. These wells were drilled with SLB’s water-based mud
system known as HydraGlyde. Their datasheet claims ROPs comparable to oil-based
mud, exceptional hole cleaning, and wellbore stability. According to the datasheet:
“By providing a high degree of lubricity,
the HydraGlyde system overcomes the typical drilling-related problems
encountered in more mature shales, such as gumbo accretion in the surface hole,
wellbore instability, mud losses in the intermediate section, and solids
buildup. The HydraGlyde system is engineered with three components:
HydraHib™ shale
inhibitor, providing a high degree of wellbore stability and exibility with the
ability to adjust its concentration
‘HydraCap™
encapsulating additive, replacing the conventional partially hydrolyzed
polyacrylamide (PHPA) additive to minimize clay dispersion and enhance wellbore
integrity
“HydraSpeed™ ROP-enhancing primary lubricant,
demonstrating a coefficient of friction factor of 30.8 compared to 39.8 for a
higher cost lubricant.”
“The HydraGlyde system replaces oil-based drilling fluids
as well as conventional water-based fluids”
It utilizes HydraSpeed, an ROP-enhancing lubricant that
reduces torque and drag on the drill string. It also utilizes SLB’s RheoProfiler,
an automated drilling mud rheology in combination with their Drilling Fluid Advisor.
“Drilling Fluid Advisor makes real-time measurements,
increasing operational versatility. RheoProfiler* 200 automated rheometer automates
data upload, making accurate and frequent adjustments to rheology and density
measured at multiple temperatures. A plug-and-play attachment to the
RheoProfiler 200 rheometer takes measurements including pH, oil/water ratio,
solids content, and electrical stability and digitally transmits the data to a
cloud environment. You can customize an electronic drilling recorder display measurement
dashboard and alarms and export data.”
Encino Energy’s No-Gel Slick Water Utica Fracs
Encino Energy
acquired Chesapeake Energy’s Utica assets in 2018. Later they focused more on the development of the volatile oil window with bigger pads, longer wells, more precise
zone targeting, and new frac designs. EOG has done the same beginning in 2022. Encino
is Ohio’s biggest oil producer by far as shown below. As reported in a January 2024
article in American Oil & Gas Reporter:
“As the top Utica oil producer, Encino has completed some
of the best oil wells in Ohio’s history, and its Utica wells have typical
30-day initial productivities ranging between 1,000 and 2,500 bbl/d.”
“Since assuming the position and embarking on its own
development program, Encino has boosted liquids production by nearly 35% to
70,000 bbl/d, with about one-third of that being crude oil, Murchison points
out. Liquids now account for 40% of Encino’s total daily production of 1.1
billion cubic feet of gas equivalent, he adds.”
Encino is focusing almost all of its current effort in the
oil window but can opt to gas if prices change.
“The company deploys slickwater fracs and avoids gel in
its completions, says Chief Technical Officer Tim Parker. Oil in the Utica
comes with a big advantage: After frac water flowback, the wells may produce
only a couple of barrels of water a day, he adds. That is a major
differentiator with favorable operating expense implications compared with,
say, the Delaware Basin, where wells can produce eight barrels or more of water
for every one barrel of oil.”
EOG’s New Frac Design
In May 2023 EOG COO Lloyd Helms Jr. noted: “drilling performance of recent wells is improving on the order of 20% to 30% compared to last year’s results” and attributed the improvements to a proprietary drilling motor program and precision targeting. I wrote a post about the Utica Oil Window in September 2023. I summarized what is known about EOG’s new frac design when it was first revealed in July 2023 in a blog post about enhancing oil & gas production. Here is what I wrote about the design:
EOG’s New Stealth Frac Design: What’s the Recipe?
EOG recently
announced success with a new frac design that increased production in the
Permian Wolfcamp formation by 20% and well EURs by 22%. Analysts tried to get
them to divulge the recipe with no luck. They had been testing the technique
since first using a version of it in the Eagle Ford in 2016. The design was
tested in 39 Wolfcamp wells and EOG expects to use it in about 70 of 350
Delaware Basin wells this year. They noted that it works better in some rocks
than in others, although they are now using it in the Eagle Ford as well.
Indications are that it is only slightly more expensive. They are testing the
design cautiously in deep formations and plan to test it in all their emerging
plays. It is most applicable to deeper targets, but they plan to test some
shallower targets as well. EOG president Billy Helms noted that depending on
the mechanics of the rock it’s being applied to, “it involves constructing
the wellbore in a way that lends itself to this new technique.” It has also
been said that it is applicable to both oil and gas plays.
I bolded Helms’ curious statement. I have not heard any more about it except that some think ammonia is involved in the recipe. I also heard they were using it in the Utica. In EOG's 3Q 2023 Earnings Presentation they showed this graph of improved production in the condensate/oil window.
Other Completion Considerations
The following slide
from a Strata Gen would apply more to the deeper gas window Utica and other
deep high-pressure shale plays like the Haynesville, where the use of ceramic proppants
is common since as the slide notes “sand crushes at 4000 to 6000 psi.”
Managed Pressure Drilling Becomes Common in Utica by
2016
As reported by Weatherford
in Hart Energy in 2016, managed pressure drilling (MPD) emerged as the preferred
method of drilling. This is often done to prevent mud loss or to prevent gas kicks
when encountering pressurized fractures. In the Utica some of these pressurized
fractures may result from connection to larger dolomitized Trenton Limestone fractures
reaching up from below. The article defined MPD as
“…a closed-loop drilling technique that enables the
driller to monitor wellbore pressure profiles and rely on the system to
automatically adjust surface backpressure as needed throughout the operation.
The approach, which has been applied in land and offshore wells worldwide, is
increasingly being adopted by operators to drill gas wells in the diverse Utica
Shale, stretching across areas of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”
The usual MPD strategy is to employ constant bottomhole
pressure (CBHP) as the optimal solution. These systems are able to detect both gas
kicks and mud losses very early in their occurrences, enabling timely parameter
adjustments.
“BHP is automatically adjusted by closing the hydraulic
chokes to increase surface backpressure, minimizing the size of the kick that
must be circulated out without shutting in the well. It automatically reduces
surface backpressure to minimize formation damage if the system detects a loss.”
“An important enabler of the technology is the rotating
control device (RCD), which is installed above the rig’s BOP stack to contain
and divert annulus fluids at surface, a critically important and demanding task
in MPD operations. Several RCD models are available, each touting different
pressure ratings to accommodate a wide range of wells with varying pressure
profiles. Compatible with various drilling techniques, including MPD, the RCD
diverts well effluent through a dedicated choke manifold. The process ensures
that HSE issues are avoided during the drilling operation.”
"The overall drilling strategy for all the wells was to mitigate potential problems related to kicks and losses by keeping the equivalent circulating density steady—above the estimated pore pressure and below the estimated fracture pressure—during dynamic and static conditions. Operators also wanted the ability to detect early kicks and losses; this was achieved by measuring return volumetric rates and adjusting bottomhole conditions instantly using the MPD choke to limit influx volumes when natural high-pressure fractures were crossed."
One method of CBHP
MPD drilling is Pressurized Mudcap Drilling (PMCD). According to Petrowiki:
“Pressurized Mudcap Drilling (PMCD) refers to drilling
with no returns to surface where an annulus fluid column, assisted by surface
pressure, is maintained above a formation that is capable of accepting fluid
and cuttings. The well is controlled by using a Light Annular Mud (LAM) that
has a slightly lower density than is required to balance the formation pressure
and is maintained above an open-hole formation that is taking all injected
sacrificial (SAC) fluid and drilled cuttings assisted by surface pressure. The
LAM density is chosen based on ability to make LAM and the desired surface
pressure that can be maintained and observed. Periodically injecting more of
the same fluid into the annulus provides a means to control the surface
backpressure within the operating limits of the Rotating Control Device (RCD)
and/or riser system. The annular fluid is injected at a rate high enough to
ensure that gas is not migrating up the annulus. The injection rate and
associated annular velocity are designed to stop gas migration to surface and
to force any formation gas back into the well – effectively bullheading the gas
back into the formation. [4].”
“Pressurized Mud-Cap Drilling is a time-tested technique
to safely penetrate the formations difficult or impractical to drill with other
methods. PMCD is widely used in fractured or carbonate reservoirs that
experience total fluid losses. Large volumes of sacrificial fluid are required
and specialized rig modifications are minimal for PMCD operations. PMCD allows
to keep dangerous gasses like H2S downhole, thus considerably enhancing the
safety of the project.”
I have worked on wells in the Austin Chalk in South Texas where
drilling on ‘mudcap’ was common.
Another method
long used in the Appalachian Basin is drilling the top hole or vertical part of
the hole with compressed air to remove cuttings. This results in a faster ROP. In
some cases, even part of the build can be drilled on air but I am not sure how
common this is nowadays.
References:
Hit
the Lights - Condensate Production Takes Off in Eastern Ohio's Utica Shale.
Housley Carr. RBN Energy, LLC. January 3, 2025. Hit
the Lights - Condensate Production Takes Off in Eastern Ohio's Utica Shale |
RBN Energy
3Q
2024 Earnings Presentation. EOG Resources. *Earnings
Presentation
3Q
2024 Earnings. Expand Energy. October 29, 2024. EXE_3Q24_Earnings_Presentation.pdf
Case
Study: Artex Energy Group Drills Two Wells in Zone Using High- Performance
Water-Based Drilling Fluid, Utica Formation. SLB. April 5, 2021. Artex
Energy Group Drills Two Wells in Zone Using High- Performance Water-Based
Drilling Fluid, Utica Formation | SLB
HydraGlyde:
High-performance water-based drilling fluid system. SLB. hydraglyde_data_sheet.pdf
HydraSpeed:
ROP-enhancing primary lubricant. SLB. HydraSpeed
ROP-Enhancing Primary Lubricant
RheoProfiler:
Automated rheometer. SLB. RheoProfiler
system tests all mud types | SLB
Drilling
Fluid Advisor: Digitize Your Drilling Fluids. SLB. Drilling
Fluid Advisor
Refined
Drill Bit Technology for Underbalanced Drilling in the Northeast United States.
Aaron J. Goodman; Robert E. Grimes; Christopher W. Lane. Paper presented at the
SPE Eastern Regional Meeting, Charleston, West Virginia, USA, October 2019. Refined
Drill Bit Technology for Underbalanced Drilling in the Northeast United States
| SPE Eastern Regional Meeting | OnePetro
Drilling
the Point Pleasant-Utica Shale Fractured Formation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Utilizing CBHP MPD with a PMCD Contingency. Sagar Nauduri; Ahmed Shimi; Gildas
Guefack; Martyn Parker. Paper presented at the IADC/SPE Managed Pressure
Drilling & Underbalanced Operations Conference & Exhibition, Virtual,
September 2021. Drilling
the Point Pleasant-Utica Shale Fractured Formation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Utilizing CBHP MPD with a PMCD Contingency | SPE/IADC Managed Pressure Drilling
and Underbalanced Operations Conference and Exhibition | OnePetro
Managed
pressure drilling. PeteroWiki. Managed pressure
drilling - PetroWiki
Encino
Leads New Era Of Utica Shale Development Targeting Oil Window. Danny Boyd. American
Oil & Gas Reporter. January 2024. Encino
Leads New Era Of Utica Shale Development Targeting Oil Window | Editors Choice
| Magazine
Engineering
World Class Wells in the Utica. Brian Davidson. Technical Manager, StrataGen, a
CARBO Business. November 2024. Main
presentation title
Encino’s
Tim Parker: Plenty of Utica Oil—and Takeaway Too. Hart Energy. November 15,
2024. Encino’s
Tim Parker: Plenty of Utica Oil—and Takeaway Too | Hart Energy
EOG
Resources: Continued Growth and The Utica Shale. Brent Hecht. Seeking Alpha. January
16, 2024. EOG
Resources: Continued Growth And The Utica Shale (NYSE:EOG) | Seeking Alpha
EOG to
ramp Ohio Utica activity by 50% next year. Geert De Lombaerde. Oil & Gas
Journal. November 8, 2024. EOG
to ramp Ohio Utica activity by 50% next year | Oil & Gas Journal
Column:
EOG on Its New Frac Design: ‘No Comment. Nissa Darbonne. Hart Energy. July 17,
2023. Column:
EOG on Its New Frac Design: ‘No Comment’ | Hart Energy
MPD
Emerging As Preferred Drilling Method In Utica Shale: Technology improves
efficiency and reduces NPT. Hunter Craig, Juan Valecillos, Maurizio Arnone and
Roy Callison, Weatherford. Hart Energy. November 10, 2016. MPD
Emerging As Preferred Drilling Method In Utica Shale | Hart Energy
Utica Oil Activity. Dave Boyer. Mudrock Energy. March 2022. Utica-Oil-Mudrock-2022.pdf
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