Reveal Energy Services commercializes frac hit analysis service

Reveal Energy Services has announced the commercialization of the FracEYE frac hit analysis service to expand the industry’s knowledge base about the critical issue of parent well-child well communication.

With ongoing infill development, frac hits from the pressure communication between wells can cause significant production decreases in parent wells. Child wells can also underperform. The goal of Reveal Energy Services was to clearly define the effect of frac hits and allow operators to make timely adjustments to their completion designs.

The foundation of the service is the company’s pressure-based technology. The service categorizes the type and severity of interwell communication by measuring the pressure response from a parent well as hydraulic fracturing proceeds normally in child wells. A team of company geoscientists and completion engineers uses the pressure-response timing and geomechanics to classify the observed response into one of four categories:

• Direct fluid transport: large and rapid overall pressure increase in the offset well;
• Fluid migration: gradual pressure increase that lingers post-stage completion;
• Undrained compression: instantaneous pressure response in the offset well; and
• No signal: no significant pressure change in the offset well.

A South Texas operator was concerned about frac hits in a four-well pad directly offsetting two parent wells stacked into separate landing zones. A Reveal Energy Services’ team, applying the FracEYE service, found there was little communication vertically between the two landing zones. There were direct frac hits and fluid migration when completing wells in the same landing zone, directly offsetting the parent well. Diverter seemed unsuccessful in mitigating these frac hits. The team also classified several major frac hits caused by faults crossing the pad. With this information, the operator had actionable insight into the effect of frac hits.

“Because infill development and frac hits are a pressing concern, our goal was to develop a service with a fast turnaround time so operators would have the information to update their next completion designs, if necessary,” Sudhendu Kashikar, CEO of Reveal Energy Services, said. “We’re pleased that we can add to the understanding of frac hits.”

The FracEYE frac hit analysis service complements the company’s IMAGE Frac pressure-based fracture maps with five services that are now field-proven in more than 8,000 hydraulic fracturing stages in the US and Canada.