Abstract
The oil and gas production landscape in North America has seen a paradigm shift since the collapse in oil prices in 2014. Although prices remain challenging, several operators have managed to sustain the relatively long period of low margins through some aggressive approaches. This paper inspects changes in operating strategies and field development plans across four major oil-rich basins (Williston, DJ, Powder River, and Uinta basins) in the US Rocky Mountain fields and how operators have used a combination of low oilfield service prices, high-graded well locations, and incremental fluid/proppant volumes to increase production. The Bakken formation in the Williston basin represents one of the best-quality rocks in all of North America. However, high oil-price differentials and well costs have made it difficult for drilling to remain profitable. The core of the DJ basin (Wattenberg) has one of the lowest break-even prices in the region, and rig count continues to increase as operators start seeing signs of recovery in the market. The Uinta basin, although relatively small in size, has shown tremendous return potential in the form of multiple stacked pays and promising production results. The Powder River basin poses one of the toughest operational environments in the region owing to wildlife stipulations, harsh weather, and deeper targets.
High-graded well locations in the Bakken are limited to few fields, which limits the scope of expansion in the current oil price environment. The DJ basin is challenged with high-density well spacing; estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) per drilling spacing unit (DSU) continues to increase, but EUR per well has gone down by as much as 60%. In the Uinta basin, formations never known to be continuous in the Green River group have shown significant return potential. The Powder River basin has recently attracted large investments from major independent operators as they tackle drilling challenges associated with abrasive rocks and testing optimum lateral landing points. This case study shows how operating strategies have changed with changes in oil prices. The Bakken and DJ basins are relatively mature, and as drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) inventory continues to increase, depletion from existing wells and interference between fractures is impacting production from new wells. The Powder River basin is still in the exploratory phase, and operators are still working on reducing well-costs, optimizing fracturing-fluid/proppant volumes, and examining the productivity of other target rocks. The Uinta basin is in the early phases of expansion, with many of the fields still being explored for scalability. Changes in production maps and completion trends provide a comprehensive understanding of how these variables have impacted oil output from the region since 2012.
Speaker Biography
Karthik Srinivasan is currently Schlumberger’s Engineering and Technology Manager for the Rockies responsible for addressing completion/reservoir engineering challenges and evaluation/implementation of new technologies across all basins in the Western US. He started his career as a fracturing field engineer in Oklahoma before progressing to technical roles across various domains. In his 10 years’ experience with Schlumberger, he has worked on most of the unconventional plays in North America and has held multiple positions including Production Technologist, Reservoir/Stimulation Engineering lead and project manager for integrated services. Srinivasan holds a Master’s in Petroleum Engineering from Penn State University and a Bachelor’s in Chemical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, India.
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From the President
Shannon Borchardt
We are back in full swing and excited about the 2018-2019 DWLS agenda. Things kicked off with an excellent presentation by Pavel Syngaevsky in September, and we are looking forward to the luncheon in October, where we will hear from Karthik Srinivasan on the industry pricing landscape and the impact to Rockies Basins.
Please join me in congratulating both Dominic Holmes and Antony Holmes as they were presented the ‘Distinguished Volunteer Award’ and the ‘Bob Cluff’ awards from DWLS. They have both been serving on the board of DWLS since 2002 and truly deserve the credit for making our society what it is today. A sincere thank you, to you both, for all you have done!
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From the Treasurer
Peter Kaufman
As of September 21, 2018 the account status was as follows:
Checking = $49,187.46
Savings = $2,553.43
For the fiscal year ending June 30th:
Revenue = $22,670.09
Expenses = $19,799.47
Donations = $5,000
As in previous years, the bulk of our revenue derives from membership fees and workshops along with amounts from sales of newsletter advertising sponsorships. Similarly, most of our direct expenses come from monthly lunches, workshops and assorted amounts from awards, etc.
The DWLS board agreed at its September meeting that in addition to the Treasurer, both the President and Past-President will have debit cards linked to the DWLS checking account, allowing extra flexibility for paying for luncheons if the other officers are absent.
In January 2018, the DWLS made a $5000 donation to the RMAG Foundation to support the Robert M. Cluff Memorial Scholarship for graduate students specializing in petrophysics and/or reservoir characterization. At the May meeting, the DWLS board agreed to make a contribution to the SPWLA Foundation to support graduate students in the Rocky Mountain region. The amount of the contribution will be determined at the October meeting, based on our current finances.
DWLS continues to enjoy a strong fiscal disposition thanks to our strong membership support and well attended short courses.
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Calendar of Events
Click the calendar to the right to view events on the web.
Other Important Events
2019 SPWLA Annual Symposium, June 16-19, 2019 (The Woodlands, TX)
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DWLS Sponsors
Click here to view the sponsors on the website, or click on any image to contact a sponsor.
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Chapter Statistics
Statistic
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This Year
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3-Year Average
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| # of Active members * |
300 |
375 |
| # that are New members |
8 |
12 |
| # that are Students * |
3 |
11 |
| # that are Lifetime Members * |
256 |
311 |
| September luncheon meeting attendance |
44 |
57 |
| October luncheon meeting attendance |
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62 |
| November luncheon meeting attendance |
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55 |
| Holiday party attendance |
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37 |
| January luncheon meeting attendance |
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67 |
| February luncheon meeting attendance |
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60 |
| March luncheon meeting attendance |
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45 |
| April luncheon meeting attendance |
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47 |
| May luncheon meeting attendance |
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51 |
* Note that we did a thorough cleanup of bad email addresses that resulted in some of our members being removed until they can be tracked down again. So this year's membership numbers are going to be a bit lower.
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The DWLS Newsletter is published monthly September through June by the Denver Well Logging Society. For information on membership or advertising, contact the editor. For other inquiries, contact a member of the Board of Directors.
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