Does anyone have information on the effect of fracking a new horizontal well on older vertical drilled wells? I have two older wells in the NW quarter of 19-16N-9W. When the new Chisholm Trail 19-18-16N-9W well was fracked, my older wells quit producing. Is this common?
Larry - is the horizontal well drawing from the same formation as the vertical wells?
If the old wells are in the same zone, they frequently shut them in temporarily while the new ones are frac'd for safety. They usually turn back on. Given that the new wells have much better completion techniques, sometimes, they might "steal" a bit of production from the old wells, but in the long run, that is better for you since it drains the reservoir more efficiently. If in a different zone, then the operators of the vertical wells may have a lawsuit to file. You will just have to wait and see (for years?) on the result of that.
Larry,
It is common if the old wells were holding the land for control purposes or low lease rates. Check to see if the old wells were producing "on paper" or continuous producers physically. If the older wells are perfed above the H well and close, it could be a physical communication but the operator wouldn't want that damage to the H well from water inflow or pressure loss and would have plugged them before fracking. If the old wells are perfed below the H well by a good distance, the old casing would probably not be damaged by fracking.
I actually just saw where my operator fracked into my 2011 well with a new well and it tripled the oil production of my old well! Of course, there was 5 times the water production but that could be frack water so I am in wait and see mode.
RW,
Are the wells parallel wells from the same zone? Do you know if they shut in the 2011 well to stabilize formation pressure while the new well was given a frat job? Most do that. Maybe now we know why. It will be investing to see how much water reports out of the newest well. Hope they didn't break into an unknown fault.
Thanks for the info. Was the operator the same for both wells?
Gary Hutchinson
The horizontal well is in the Woodford and/or Mississippian zones. Don't know the depth or zones of the vertical wells. The older wells have been producing steadily for years although they are not barnburners. The older wells have different operators, BRG and Chesapeake.
Mr. Hutchinson, the 2011 well was shut in. Typical production for the 2011 well was 3,400 barrels oil and 2,100 barrels water.
First month of resumed production for the 2011 well was 9,605 barrels oil and 15,824 barrels water.
The new well produced 9,187 barrels oil and 22,484 barrels water in 17 days. It will be interesting to see where the water production settles when they get all the frack water back.
If your well has watered out from fracking, watch this video aired on April 28, 2017, by OETA and contact Okla Coro Commission