Inventory and Analysis of Hydraulically Fractured Wells in the Dutch On- and Offshore (2013)

This MSc thesis has been written by former intern Kris Hopstaken.

Since 1954, 242 wells are hydraulically fractured in the Dutch on- and offshore. This report is focused on all fracced wells between 1995 and 2012. The aim of this research is to get a complete overview of all the frac operations and ultimately come up with a best practice for successful and safe fraccing in the Netherlands. An extensive data mining exercise is performed to create a thematic database with the most important parameters. The cumulative and monthly production history of the wells is used to determine if a frac operation is successful or not. Trends and relations between various parameters are analyzed with a data visualization program. 55% of the frac operations were defined as a production success. Tip screen-out designed frac jobs performed with a high amount of injected proppant (>100.000kg) and a high concentration of coarse grained proppant in the fracture (>10kg/m²) show the highest probability to result in a production success. It is highly unrealistic for a frac to grow into the deepest Dutch drinking water aquifer (200 m TVD). The majority of the fracs operations are performed below 2000 meter TVD and the maximum frac height in all the described operations is calculated to be 185 meter. Future frac operations have to be more extensive and consequent in parameter computing and reporting. This is required to obtain a complete database and analysis.