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Bakken Tight Oil Congress 2012

It is no news that Bakken production figures surpassed the half a million barrel per day mark in November. We know that it will continue to surpass that. We also know that some parts of the Bakken are more productive than others but what we don’t know is WHY. Is it good geology or is it good completions? Can you turn an unproductive field into productive one with good completions? Can an area be productive solely because of superior geological characteristics?

To fully exploit this phenomenal resource, it is imperative that industry dismiss the ‘one size fits all’ mentality for completion styles in exchange for tailored completions for specific reservoirs across the varying play types.  The only way to do this is to truly understand how geologically varied reservoirs can be across all the different play types within the Bakken.

The Bakken Tight Oil Congress 2012 for the very first time acknowledged the importance of recognizing the Bakken as a heterogeneous resource.  Not to seeing it as a single homogenous Bakken Play but as a collection of unique Bakken play types. Understanding how a play type differs in stratigraphy, geology, and reservoir quality allowed producers to determine the specialized completion techniques necessary to exploit a particular target zone for maximized production.

Executives and leading experts in geology and completions discussed the integration of geological properties with completions techniques to help producers identify sweet spots and fully exploit reservoirs within the various Bakken play types. 

Day one started by delivering a case study on how a completions strategy has been actively tailored to field-specific reservoirs to enhance well performance. It then looked differentiated between good completions and good geology to identify key well performance drivers. Presenters also examined completions fluids, proppants, completions technology, well spacing, frac stages and reservoir management to determine best practices in the Parshall, Sanish, Three Forks, Saskatchewan and many more. The day ended by looking at the extent of interaction between the Three Forks and the Bakken to determine well density and spacing.

Day two looked at the implications of the Bakken’s heterogenous petroleum system when identifying sweet spots. It then evaluated the Bakken as a dolomite instead of a shale to understand what drives its productivity over other plays. The day went on to deliver a break down of geological characteristics in various different plays including permeability and porosity, water saturation and brittleness to paint a picture of how geology differs across zones with different productivity. It then weighed up the debate on natural fractures and reservoir heterogeneity to evaluate the relative importance of them in predicting production rates and in determining sweet spots. Last but not least, the conference delineated the edges of the Bakken to determine the extent of the play and identify lucrative opportunities for the future.