Unlocking Egypt’s

Unconventional-Resource Potential

T he Apollonia tight-gas chalk play is

located in the Abu Gharadig Basin
in the Western Desert of Egypt. This
has long been ignored as a gas play
in the overburden, while the Jurassic
and Cretaceous oil fields deeper in
the basin have been explored and
developed. However, several structures
in the Apollonia are known to contain
potentially significant hydrocarbon
volumes, although a potential Apollonia
full-field development is challenging
because of regulated gas prices in the
Western Desert and low-productivity
formations. This paper discusses
the process of developing the first
unconventional-gas opportunity
in Egypt.
Introduction
Vertical appraisal wells show that low
production rates and low estimated
ultimate recoveries (EURs) present a
challenge for cost-effective develop-
ment of tight gas in Apollonia. With
the play’s decreasing levels of perme-
ability, long-reach horizontal wells are
needed with induced stimulation. The
optimized technique of deploying mul-
tistage hydraulic-fracture stimulation
efficiently has been documented and
applied successfully in North America
and has potential for success in Apol-
lonia. Shell and Apache created a joint-
development proposal to unlock the sig-
nificant stranded gas in Apollonia. The
proposal consisted of a staged develop-
ment, starting with a three-horizontal-
well pilot followed by an optional
full-field development.
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper SPE 188587, “Unlocking Egypt’s Unconventional Potential,” by Amr Zaher,
Etienne Loubens, Mohamed Zayed, SPE, Nicholas Gill, SPE, Oneil Sadhu, SPE, and
Layla El Hares, SPE, Shell, prepared for the 2017 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum
Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, 13–16 November. The paper has not been
peer reviewed.
Geology
Apollonia is a homogeneous reservoir;
however, it is very tight, and induced
stimulation by hydraulic fracturing is
required to produce a commercial and
sustainable production rate. Smectite
and illite contribute to reservoir quality
and can be predicated by convention-
al logs. Fracture densities in Apollonia
are low. The fractures are either closed
or only partially open, and their contri-
bution to production is perceived to be
low. In addition to these factors, devel-
opment may require drilling many wells
(low spacing) with induced stimulation
in order to deliver cost-effective pro-
duction rates. This requires lower well
costs than currently exist. While pro-
duction from the three existing vertical
wells continues, EURs from these wells
are suboptimal.
Apollonia comprises tight, micro-
porous chalky carbonates that are
proved to contain movable hydrocar-
bons. The formation is subdivided into
four members, Apollonia A (top layer)
through D (bottom layer). Apollonia A
and C are composed of thick massive
limestones (chalk) with minor marly
and shaley intervals, while Apollonia B
and D are dominated by shale. Most of
the porous intervals occur within Apol-
lonia A and C. Regional correlations
have shown that most of the thickness
variations are confined to Apollonia C
and, to a lesser extent, D. However, re-
cent seismic interpretation has shown
that there are also thickness variations
in Apollonia A and B associated with Eo-
cene inversion. The individual porous
zones within Apollonia A and, to a lesser
extent, C are laterally correlatable over
large distances.
Pilot: Horizontal Wells With
Multistage Hydraulic Fracturing
The pilot-phase execution began with
the drilling of the first horizontal well
(1000-m horizontal section) in Q2 2016.
The well was drilled vertically to the
kickoff point then began building angle
until 9⅝-in. casing was landed and ce-
mented back to surface. Drilling con-
tinued with an 8¾-in. bit, and the
7-in. casing was cemented back in the
9⅝-in. casing. 5-in. liner casing was
set back to the surface and cement-
ed. The well was then perforated and
completed with an eight-stage fracture
completion. The flowback was con-
trolled so that it would not carry or
draw sand out of the fractures. The sec-
ond well was drilled in Q4 2016 and
started production by early 2017. The
second well was perpendicular to the
first well, with a high-angle/oblique-
fracture orientation.
The six vertical wells (appraisal) were
shut in to accommodate the produc-
tion of the horizontal pilot-phase wells.
Commingling the production of the ver-
tical and horizontal wells in the same
pipeline to the facility faced challenges.
Thus, the decision was made to close
the low-producing vertical wells until
sufficient data were gathered from the
pilot phase. The challenges implied that
the two horizontal wells were not pro-
duced together, and the first well had to
be shut in for 3 months while the second
well was closely monitored.
The horizontal wells were drilled suc-
cessfully, and the horizontal sections
were placed in the thin Apollonia A5
reservoir. The horizontal multistage
fracturing wells showed much higher
initial gas rates compared with the ver-
tical foam-fractured wells (Fig. 1). The

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JPT • JULY 2018 65

 4X
Performance
X Monte Carlo simulation derived a
0 200 400 600 800
Days of Production
Vertical Wells
Fig. 1—Comparison of vertical and horizontal multistage-fracturing-well
performance.
production of both wells slowly declined
over time; however, their production
trend has begun to flatten out as of the
writing of this paper. The two wells are
producing at very high water/gas ra-
tios (WGRs) compared with the verti-
cal wells (not all vertical wells produced
water), and the former have been pro-
ducing water from Day 1. The second
well (with an oblique fracturing orienta-
tion) was producing at double the WGR
of the first horizontal well at the time
of writing.
Two theories could explain this water
production. The first is that the water
production is coming from the matrix
itself as the reservoir quality quickly de-
teriorates with increased clay content.
The second theory suggests that the
water is coming through faults either
intersected by the wells or connected to
natural fractures that are connected to
the aquifer. The fact that gas should be
much more mobile than water suggests
that the latter theory is more plausible.
The image logs of the two wells show
many such events interpreted as faults
and fractures.
The actual cause of the high water
production from Day 1 is still under in-
vestigation. It is believed that the reason
behind the relatively sustainable flow
of the horizontal multistage-fracturing
wells compared with that of the verti-
cal wells is the longer surface area of the
horizontal wells.
66
1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800
Horizontal Wells
Estimation of EUR per Well
Here, a method of production forecasting
for tight-gas reservoirs without the use
of numerical modeling is outlined. The
method uses a stochastic technique that
couples data from the long-producing
vertical wells (4 years of production)
with the initial results of the horizontal
wells to estimate a range of EUR per well
for the horizontal multistage-fracturing
wells in Apollonia while considering the
wide range of uncertainties.
Three-segment decline-curve analysis
(DCA) is applicable for wells that tran-
sition from years of transient flow into
years of boundary-dominated flow. A
probabilistic DCA work flow was imple-
mented for this project in four steps:
1. The time was estimated at
which the wells would show the
true decline. This was estimated
by plotting wellhead pressure
against time to find the point at
which the tubinghead pressure
would be the dominating factor
in the decline. The initial decline
rate from that period also was
estimated.
2. Segment 1 decline parameters
were calculated. The data from the
horizontal wells were insufficient
and did not yet show that decline;
thus, the decline parameters were
estimated from the six vertical
wells. Multiple fits were used on
each of the six wells, which led to
a range of decline parameters, and
then a distribution was fitted.
3. The function of porosity, formation
and fluid compressibilities, fluid
viscosity, drainage area, and
permeability were calculated. Each
of these parameters has its own
distribution derived either from
core data or pressure/volume/
temperature (PVT) analysis. A
distribution of time for boundary-
dominated flow.
4. The Monte Carlo simulation was
run. The final distribution was
then discretized to determine the
EUR per well.
The midcase EUR per well was val-
idated by using rate transient analy-
sis. A model was built with the first
horizontal-well data available at that
point in time—post-fracturing model
results (fracturing dimensions and con-
ductivity), PVT data, core data, and
available gas rate vs. wellhead pres-
sure (WHP). The WHP was converted to
bottomhole pressure. The reliability is
subjective because of the high levels of
water produced.
Conclusion
The Apollonia tight-chalk formation
was targeted as a candidate for long
horizontal completion with multistage
fracture stimulation to enhance the res-
ervoir’s commercial potential after an
appraisal phase with six vertical foam-
fractured wells. A pilot phase was de-
signed to demonstrate the cost-effective
execution of drilling horizontal laterals
with multistage fractures, establish ini-
tial production rates of the horizontal
wells, and estimate EUR per well.
At the time of writing, two of the three
planned pilot horizontal wells have been
drilled and completed with eight stag-
es of fracture stimulation. The initial
results of these two wells show much
better sustainable relatively higher gas
rates compared with stimulated vertical
wells in a tight gas reservoir (0.1–1 md).
Stochastic DCA was used to couple the
data from the long-producing vertical
wells and initial results from the hori-
zontal wells to estimate a range of EUR
per well for the horizontal wells, which
will later help in defining full-field de-
velopment better. JPT
JPT • JULY 2018