Hess Research Project Points to Fewer Wells and Passive Producers That “Harvest” Offset Fractures

Abstract

The Bakken and Three Forks formations have been treated as isolated pay zones since shale development took off in North Dakota more than a decade ago. Operators of the ultratight plays have acted on this thinking through drilling and completion programs that targeted each rock layer independently. One of the companies to lead such programs is Hess Corp. However, subsurface specialists within the regional stalwart have acquired new subsurface information over the past year that may steer the company toward drilling horizontal wells into just one of the two intervals—the more prolific Middle Bakken. Craig Cipolla boiled it down this way: “I think the big takeaway here is that the data suggest the Middle Bakken wells can drain the Three Forks from 450 ft away.” Stopping short of quantifying the co-production, Cipolla described it as “material” and added that production from the Three Forks up into Middle Bakken wells can be “significantly improved with the appropriate frac design.” Cipolla is a principal completions engineering advisor with Hess and a coauthor of SPE 209164, which explains how a major observation well project led to that potential strategy-shifting conclusion. That work involved testing a new well design that Hess said appears to generate 30–40% more oil over its baseline approach. An especially novel idea not in the paper—but tied to the work it covers—involves producing oil from unstimulated wells within the Three Forks that “harvest” offset hydraulic fractures from Middle Bakken wells. Hess calls this passive producer an augmented drainage development (ADD) well. Cipolla confirmed that the first ADD well successfully flowed oil for a few months and that more attempts are planned. He presented the paper and new insights on the ADD concept to industry peers in February at the Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference (HFTC). The experiment that it all revolves around began in late 2019 on a six-well pad about 10 miles north of the Missouri River. An incomplete outline of that pad follows.