CASE STUDY

PEMEX Increases Oil Production by 380% During

First Application of HiWAY Technique, Mexico
Fracturing treatment techniques optimized by estimating the direction
of the fracture plan using preliminary geomechanical modeling

Fracture sandstone formation with random

well placement where past fracture
interferences have occurred, leading to
shut-in wells or underperforming fractured
wells after stimulation treatments.
Verify rock mechanical properties to
determine which fracturing technique
should be applied.

SOLUTION

Use Sonic Scanner* acoustic scanning

platform to obtain fracture propagation
direction and the principal stress
magnitudes, and to estimate rock
mechanical properties to determine if
HiWAY* flow-channel fracturing technique
can be applied.
Study possible fracture interference
by incorporating Sonic Scanner platform
data and Mangrove* engineered
stimulation design in the Petrel* E&P
software platform.

RESULTS

Matched real treating pressure data by

adjusting the preliminary geomechanical
model in the FracCADE* fracturing design
and evaluation software.
Increased oil production by 380% without
interfering with offset well by applying
HiWAY technique to stimulate wells.

Random, tight well spacing increases risk of interference during hydraulic fracturing
PEMEX applied a fracturing treatment in one of its sandstone fields in southern Mexico, increasing
the oil production for each well by 800 bbl/d on average. However, because field development was
initially planned without fracturing, well spacing was tight with a pattern random (about 656 ft [200 m]).
Furthermore, fracturing interference had occurred for some of the wells.
No data was available for the wells with interference to measure the minimum stress direction,
although the estimated direction of the maximum horizontal stress was to NE 50, according
to the location of two wells that interfered with each other. In addition, because the field
is subjected to salt intrusion from both west and east sides, the direction of the maximum
horizontal stress may rotate.
Upper Sand Map

Salt
Intrusion

The random location of wells in the upper sand posed

challenges for effective treatment.

1,400
1,200
1,000
Salt Intrusion 800
600
400
200
0
Oil rate, bbl/d

CHALLENGE

Wells with no interference

Wells with interference

Average daily oil production performance of fractured

wells was significantly improved by avoiding interference.

Sonic Scanner platform estimates propagation of fracture

PEMEX requested the Sonic Scanner platform, which transmits radial acoustic waves that can be
measured over a broad frequency band compared with conventional sonic tools. It is built with upper
and a lower monopole transmitters and a far monopole transmitter; signals are received by 13 receiver
stations composed of 8 receivers located radially. Thus, the architecture permits compressional and
shear radial profiling to be obtained in addition to the formation anisotropy, which enables estimating
the principal stress orientations, magnitude, and rock mechanical properties in 3D.
Fracture modeling generated using Mangrove stimulation design showed that the two fractured wells
were parallel and not communicating directly with one another; approximately 15 was estimated
between the fracture plane and the wells orientation between each. The preliminary fracturing
design was readjusted to create a fracture half the length of the original design. In addition, the
estimation of the Youngs modulus value helped the operator make the decision to deploy the HiWAY
technique for the first time in southern Mexico.

Reservoir Engineering

CASE STUDY: HiWAY technique selected to stimulate wells, increases oil production 380%, Mexico
HiWAY technique selected, oil production increased by 380%
The preliminary geomechanical model estimated from the Sonic Scanner
platforms data was adjusted in the FracCADE software to obtain a match
between the simulated and the field treating pressure, decreasing the
predicted values by 6%.

Orientation between the two wells

15 degrees

In addition, the offset fractured well located at 656 ft [200 m] did not show
any change in wellhead pressure during the fracturing treatment, and its
production performance remained the same.
It was important to exactly estimate the propagation of the hydraulic
fracture, because rotating the in situ stress direction by as little as 15 could
have led to results similar to the previous interference cases. An increase
in oil production to a rate of 1,430 bbl/dmore than any other well in the
fieldwas attributed to the HiWAY technique.
PEMEX considered the application of the Sonic Scanner platform as successful
in the decision process for selection of the fracturing methodthe HiWAY
techniquewhich was more cost effective when compared with traditional
fracturing methods.

Fracture azimuth
(estimated from Sonic Scanner platform)

Sonic Scanner platforms measurements made it possible to accurately estimate

the angle between the fracture plan and wells orientation.

Oil rate, bbl/d

Angle fracturing plan-wells orientation: 0

Angle fracturing plan-wells orientation: 15

1,000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Wells with interference,
no Sonic Scanner platform data

Wells with no interference, Sonic Scanner

platform data available prior to treatment

Using Sonic Scanner platforms data to design the treatment prevented a recurrance
of interference between the wells that adversely affected production.

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