SPE-217282-MS

Pioneering Beetaloo Shale Appraisal: Case Study of Australia's Largest

Multistage Fracturing Operation

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H. Li, SLB, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; D. Kalinin, inGauge Energy, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; A. Bruce, Empire
Energy Group Limited, Sydney, NSW, Australia; T. Bukovac, SLB, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

Copyright 2023, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/217282-MS

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Asia Pacific Unconventional Resources Symposium held in Brisbane, Australia on 14 – 15 November 2023.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written
consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may
not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
In the Beetaloo Sub-basin within the Northern Territory, Australia, the shales of the Velkerri and Kyalla
Formation are highly prospective. The Carpentaria-3H well was drilled in the B Shale of the Amungee
Member of the Velkerri Formation with a lateral length of more than 2,632 metres and completed over a
1,989-metre section. Beyond the appraisal nature of work, the observation of natural fractures and faulting
coupled with geomechanical complexity posed multiple challenges to the planning, design, execution, and
evaluation of Australia's largest stimulation job to date.
This paper provides a comprehensive review of the Carpentaria-3H fracturing design and operation,
following incorporating data from the Carpentaria-2H well. Completion design included developing the
fracture stage interval spacing, number of clusters per stage, and cluster perforation density. For the
fracturing treatment, decisions were refined for selection of fluid and proppant type, job volume optimisation
and differentiation. Design optimisation is based upon both the simulator and evaluation measurements from
the Carpentaria-2H reference well. Furthermore, observations from field execution, including formation
response, experimental fracturing stages, and onsite design optimization, were incorporated.
The largest multi-stage fracturing operation to date in Australia was completed with 12.8 million pounds
of sand and proppant successfully placed without screen out across 40 stages. Across the multiple stages
trials of sleeve-perforation comparison, out-of-target stages, variable sand size and ceramic proppant were
successfully executed. During post-fracturing cleanup, the Carpentaria-3H produced at an average rate of 2.6
MMscf/D over 27 days prior to being shut-in for a period of "soaking". The success of the well completion
through a multi-stage fracturing operation marked a breakthrough in Beetaloo Sub-basin appraisal and
demonstrated that long lateral drilling and large-scale fracturing treatments can be a viable pathway to
improve efficiency and return on investment. This is despite the limitations imposed by scarce infrastructure
and challenging logistics in the Australian outback.
Knowledge from the evaluation work undertaken in the previously stimulated and tested Carpentaria-2H
wells was critical to advancing the Carpentaria-3H project. The Carpentaria-2H well's multi-arm calliper
measurements offered enough precision to evaluate the perforation erosion following proppant placement.
This generated a new technique for indirect evaluation of fluid and proppant distribution among the
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clusters. Production logging and chemical tracers also provided useful information for calibration and design
optimization. Furthermore, advanced software tools were applied to integrate reservoir modelling, fracture
and reservoir simulation, and data analysis.

Introduction
In the Beetaloo Sub-basin in the Northern Territory, Australia, the Velkerri and Kyalla shales are highly
prospective. The thick stacked organic-rich shales provide the potential to be a world-class gas resource
(Australian Government 2021; Sander et al. 2018). The Beetaloo Sub-basin is a 28,000 km2, completely

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subsurface, composite depocentre located in the northern central Northern Territory (Williams 2019).
The Velkerri Formation shale gas target intervals are contained within the Roper Group, where thickness
preservation can be more than 5000 m in the relatively flat-lying sub-basin. The primary marine organic-
rich shale targets of the Beetaloo Sub-basin are the Amungee Member of the Velkerri Formation (1417 ±
29 Ma to 1361 ± 21 Ma; Creaser and Kendall 2007, Kendall et al. 2009). Most of the Beetaloo Sub-basin is
unconformably overlain by the Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic Georgina Basin and the Mesozoic Carpentaria
Basin, with Roper group aged outcrop only observed beyond the defined basin margins. The shales of the
Amungee Member, herein termed the ‘Velkerri shales’, are split into four stacked target intervals, listed in
depositional order: A, Intra A/B, B and C Shale. The A, B, and C Shales are organic-rich marine shales,
whereas the Intra A/B is a hybrid shale-tight gas play. Of the stacked shales, the B shale is the main lateral
target to date.
The first horizontal well in the basin was hydraulically fractured and successfully put on production tested
immediately prior to a Northern Territory moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in 2016. Following the lifting
of the moratorium in 2019 activity has increased, but the number of horizontal fracture-stimulated wells
remains low. It is only in the last few years that large-scale hydraulic fracturing has been adopted. Similar
to the experience of other major shale plays, longer lateral and more hydraulic fracturing stages will be the
trend to fully unlock the resource potential of the shales in the Beetaloo Sub-basin (Towler et al. 2018).
However, due to the limited completion and subsurface dataset and analogue, the optimum completion
strategy and fracturing treatment parameters have not been determined and are undergoing refinement.
Initial horizontal well multistage fracturing in the basin has utilised plug-and-perf completion and a
slickwater fluid system. This stimulation solution has posed a few challenges in early wells. For instance,
the Amungee NW-1H well suffered from sand placement issues with pure slickwater, necessitating the
change to a hybrid design. Near-wellbore pressure loss (NWBPL) was the main cause of the low pumping
rate, which led to a smaller fracture width. Faulting presented another challenge. Casing deformation
was detected at fault depths and caused the 289 m lateral section not to be stimulated. Moreover, the
casing deformation made it impossible to mill out the bridge plug, leaving only five stages contributing to
production. Post-fracturing pressure build-up analysis and flow regime identification from Rate-Transient
Analysis (Clarkson and Cote 2022) suggested that small effective fracture half-length could be one of the
reasons for underperforming wells.
Early experience has shown that due to the basin's stress regime, natural fracturing and faulting, the
optimum completion strategy in Beetaloo the Sub-basin must maximize the lateral coverage by increasing
the number of effective induced fractures through suitable spacing through the horizontal wellbore. The
objectives of fracturing treatment design should also include safe sand placement by overcoming the impact
of NWBPL.

Technology Trial in Carpentaria-2H

Carpentaria-2H was drilled and completed in 2022 as the fourth horizontal well in the Beetaloo Sub-basin to
evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of the Velkerri B Shale. The project's primary objectives were to design
and execute a hydraulic fracture program, at the time the largest in Australia, and subsequently undertake
SPE-217282-MS 3

an extended production test to demonstrate the production potential and determine the best treatment design
for subsequent wells. As depicted in Fig. 1, the well had a lateral length of 1,345 metres a total measured
depth of 3,150 metres MD. It was completed with 20 fracturing treatment stages using the plug-and-perf
technique and an initial stage with jetted casing using Coil Tubing. The effective stimulated horizontal
length was 927 metres.

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Figure 1—Well trajectories of Carpentaria-2H (well toward the south-southeast direction) and
Carpentaria 3H (well toward the north-northwest direction). Courtesy of Empire Energy Group.

Observations During Execution

Carpentaria-2H fracturing stimulation was executed in July-August 2022 using a total fluid volume of 3.32
million gallons and a sand mass of 6.28 million pounds. Twenty-one out of twenty-six originally planned
stages were placed across a stimulated lateral length of 927 metres. Five stages near a structural fault (<10
metres throw) were not undertaken as risk mitigation due to an observed casing restriction at the fault
depth during the plug pump-down operations. This section discusses observations related to near-wellbore
pressure loss (NWBPL), the stress direction components, and the casing internal diameter (ID) restriction.
NWBPL may be caused by several conditions, for instance, hoop stress, insufficient perforation
penetration, and tortuosity introduced by phase misalignment and wellbore deviation (Weng 1993). The
most commonly used engineering practice to deal with NWBPL is pumping spearhead acid, as was
undertaken for this well. 15% hydrochloric acid was displaced to the perforation, and the rate rapidly
increased as pressure started to decline to distribute the acid between clusters better. A step-down test
(SDT) for future evaluation followed the acid pumping. A moderate pressure build-up due to sand packing
was observed on several stages on the arrival of the first sand-laden slurry to the perforations. A sharp
decrease followed, a clear sign of NWBPL being reduced with ongoing sand erosion. However, this did
not completely address the risk associated with NWBPL, as when slurry containing larger (40/70) sand at
a higher proppant concentration arrives at the perforations, an increase in treating pressure was observed.
At this phase of treatment, the potential remedies for NWBPL were limited. The pumping schedules in the
subsequent stages were re-adjusted by lowering coarser sand concentration when the transition occurred.
To predict the NWBPL before the main treatment, a simplified diagnostic for NWBPL evaluation by
plotting Pi – Ppre and pipe friction with different rates during the spearhead acid injection period was adapted,
where Pi denotes treating pressure at each rate step and Ppre refers to pre-job instantaneous shut-in pressure
(ISIP). A "mismatching" of the two diagnostic curves is a general indicator of NWBPL, and a match
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indicates a low NWPL. This approach provided insight into the degree of NWBPL before pumping the
main job (Fig. 2).

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Figure 2—Workflow to estimate NWBPL prior to the main job. a) Stepdown pressure and pre-job ISIP. b) Plot total
friction and pipe friction from the database. c) The difference in trends can give an idea of NWBPL prior to the main job.

Fig. 3 summarises the "NWBPL coefficient", the average area between the two curves in Fig. 2c using
the methodology described above. There were three outliers. The high treating pressure in stages 3, 10, and
23 limited proppant concentration and rate, which could reduce effective fracture length and conductivity.
These observations validated the diagnostic approach and allowed us to adjust the main pumping steps
with respect to sand slugs, acid exposure time, sand mass and pumping schedule to ensure smooth sand
placement before the main frac started.

Figure 3—NWB friction coefficient and observation during treatment. a) Significantly higher values
in stages 3, 10, and 23. b) The average treating pressures of the above stages were very high.

Geomechanical complexity was identified through pre-job and post job ISIPs. The post job ISIP
gradients approximate overburden stress (1.1 psi/ft) and fracture closure, although not directly observed
(except during DFIT on Stage 1), was interpreted to be below overburden, reinforcing previous observation
of a normal to strike slip stress regime (Close et al., 2017) - Figure 4. It can be observed that the trend of the
ISIP gradient decreases toward the heel section. The differences between pre-job ISIPs and post-fracturing
ISIPs were predominately below 200 psi. Low net pressure on almost all stages potentially indicates the
SPE-217282-MS 5

presence of excessive NWB issues (discussed above) in complex or competing fracture systems. T-shaped
fractures and a low-angle natural fracture system cannot be ruled out.

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Figure 4—ISIP trend in Carpentaria-2H. a) General decreasing trend in ISIP gradients. b)
The difference between pre-job and post-job ISIP indicates the net pressure created by
hydraulic fracture. It is observed that most of the pressure differences are below 200 psi.

During the pump-down operations of stage 13, a sharp increase in treating pressure and a drop in tension
on the wireline cable was observed, which led to the premature termination of that stage due to an interpreted
and later confirmed casing ID restriction. The casing restriction coincided with a structural fault of less
than 10 metres throw observed on azimuthal Gamma Ray LWD. The fault was approximately 300 metres
from the planned treatment interval along the hole. Given the appraisal nature of the horizontal well and
the previous instance of a partial wellbore access loss on Amungee NW-1H after casing deformation, the
decision was made to forego stages 13–17 that were proximal to the observed fault. Although the decision
to not risk the 12 executed stages was operationally prudent, post operation calliper log indicated that the
ID loss at the restriction was minimal and exceeded the diameter of the plugs.
Currently, no conclusive data links the treatment and the restriction point, so there is no way to know
whether the restriction was created by the shear forces from the two sides of the fault as in other case studies
(Liu et al. 2019). In the next section, we will discuss more about the ID restriction with the input data from
the multi-arm calliper.

Carpentaria-2H Evaluation
Evaluation techniques for the Carpentaria-2H well included production history matching, water and gas
chemical tracers, a memory production logging tool (MPLT), and a 24-arm calliper log.
In the production history matching (HM), fracture simulation parameters and a reservoir model were
calibrated with the treating and production flow test data. All the fracture simulations were re-run to match
actual treating pressures, and the updated grid was utilized in production simulations. To better reflect the
fracture geometry, an unstructured grid was used. The grid consisted of 895,000 cells, and cell size ranged
from 3.3×3.3ft near the fracture to 100×100 ft in the far field (Fig. 5). Due to the geomechanical complexity
of the study area versus the simulation model, caution was required when incorporating results.
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Figure 5—Production grid for history matching (left) and initial production matching result (right).

A job-size sensitivity analysis was performed based on the model calibrated by production history
matching. Various job sizes were modelled across eight stages made up of four crosslinked (XL), two
slickwater (SW), and two hybrid (SW + XL), each with six clusters. The results are shown in Fig. 6.
The greatest incremental production gain for increased job size observed on the graph denoting optimal
job volume range of 100% to 115% of the base case. A job volume above 130% of the base case is not
recommended due to a diminishing increase in productivity coupled with the associated placement risks.
With this approach, we settled on the baseline design job volume for future hydraulic fracture stimulations.

Figure 6—Job volume sensitivity analysis based on calibrated model.

Gas and Water Chemical tracers were added during the fracturing treatment and sampled at the surface
throughout the 51-day post-fracturing flowback and testing period. The results indicate that all stages are
contributing to the gas production. However, the performance of each stage could not be determined due to
the limitation on the number of unique tracers. The tracers were applied by the same tracer for the same job
type (XL, hybrid, or SW) in adjacent stages. Hence, if we have separate water or gas contributions, we can
split the others based on their proportion. The raw gas and water tracer allocation by stages are shown in
Table 1. Furthermore, we can visualise the split results in well trajectory view and by job type (Fig. 7).
SPE-217282-MS 7

Table 1—Raw gas (left) and water (right) production contributions from tracers.

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Figure 7—Gas (top) and water (bottom) tracer types and contributions plotted on the well trajectory. The colours
represent the type of tracer, and the size of the bubbles reflects the sum of the contribution of the given tracer type.

It should be noted that there was a general inversely proportional trend between water and gas
contributions. This suggested that the cleanup process is not yet fully finished even after flowing the well
for 51 days. Water production was relatively higher in the last few stages, and this could be explained by
more fluid dissipation in the early stages, whilst subsequent stages were stimulated.
This tracer data is from the first 51 days of flowback and testing. Subsequently, the well was shut
in for five months and returned on extended production test for 76 days. This occurred after the
design and execution of Carpentaria-3H drilling and fracture stimulation, which is outside this paper's
scope. Nonetheless, treatment contribution from the first 51 days was incorporated into the design of
Carpentaria-3H.
Fig. 8 depicts that slickwater jobs contributed less to gas production and produced more water than XL
and hybrid job types. This is only for the first 51 days of production, and given the various fluid volumes,
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job sizes and proppant concentrations between the jobs, the data may only be pointing to different clean-up
timing. Therefore, caution was used when using utilising the data for Carpentaria-3H planning.

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Figure 8—Average contribution for different job types.

Further to reviewing raw tracer relative contribution, the data was normalised to gas production versus
average sand mass and average fluid volume per cluster. The production data was cumulative for the 51
days of flowback and testing. Fig. 9 shows the relationship between the average gas contribution per cluster
and the average sand and fluid volume per cluster. Gas production has a higher correlation with sand mass
than with fluid volume. However, after removing the outlier values in cluster numbers (group 3), the linear
relationship weakened, and the trend flattened with increased material quantity. Increasing the treatment
size per cluster might not be the optimal pathway to improving production. An alternative consideration is to
increase the effective number of clusters. Further work is required as chemical tracers have their limitations.

Figure 9—Average cluster gas contribution correlates more with sand mass than water
volume, emphasising the importance of effective sand placement (labels indicate tracer types).

Although the above evaluation offered insight, some important components were still not understood
that were critical for subsequent job planning. One such element of fluid and sand distribution within stage
clusters was not resolved, and this is critical to determining ongoing perforation and pumping strategy.
Furthermore, the casing restriction proximal to stage 12 had not been confirmed. Based on this, a coiled-
tubing-conveyed memory production logging tool and calliper were acquired on Carpentaria-2H as part of
Carpentaria-3H job planning. Logging was undertaken after the well had flowed for 51 days, shut in for a
few months, and opened for a few days of stable flow specifically for that activity.
The memory production logging tool (MPLT) recorded overall perforations across the entire horizontal
section. Due to operational issues, only limited data was recovered. Only a coarse gas production profile
SPE-217282-MS 9

could be computed over discrete wellbore sections based on the limited available data. Water inflow could
not be resolved with the truncated dataset. Four production intervals were identified based on temperature
and mini spinner measurements, which were significantly coarser than cluster and perforation resolution.
The percentage of gas contributions and comparison with tracers are presented in Table 2. We excluded
contributions from other intervals and normalised the gas tracer measurement to the resolved intervals for
a more straightforward comparison.

Table 2—PLT result. Even though expected accuracy was not achieved, it can be observed that the result shows

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consistency with chemical tracers. The tracers’ results were normalised to the sum of stages shown in this table.

TYPE PLT Normalised Gas Tracer*

Stage 6 XL
24% 21%
Stage 7 XL

Stage 10 Hybrid
10% 17%
Stage 11 Hybrid

Stage 18 XL
28% 28%
Stage 19 XL

Stage 23 Hybrid

Stage 24 Hybrid 37% 34%

Stage 25 XL

A 24-arm calliper log was run in a hole with coiled tubing as a separate run to the MPLT. The
resolution along the hole trajectory of the oriented tool was 2 mm, sufficient to resolve post-fracturing casing
ID, including ovality, casing collars, individual perforations, and plug setting intervals. The fundamental
observations changes in ID are the following:

• Most severe tight spots occurred when the well trajectory exhibited more dog leg severity, which
may be attributed to uneven loading during hydraulic stimulation.
• Most of the tight spots exhibited "ovalisation", in which the casing ID decreased in the direction
of external force (0–180°) and increased in the 90–270° direction, where 0 is the up direction (Fig.
10b).
• The plug seat may be observed as a discrete increase in casing ID (Fig. 10c).

• It should be emphasised that conventional "casing deformation", usually burst/cracked casing

subjected to strong shear force, did not occur. Most deformation cases were caused by
compressional forces (similar to an aluminium can crushing). Even the restriction where the BHA
got stuck seemed to result from abnormal compression from the bottom of the casing.
• Casing restrictions are only observed in the horizontal production section of the hole proximal to
where it was fracture stimulated. There is no observed risk to casing integrity
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Figure 10—a) Casing ID and sand restrictions plotted on a well trajectory. The warm (increase) and cool (decrease) colours
represent departures from normal casing ID. The dashed well track represents not being stimulated due to the tight spot.
b) An instance of mild casing compression; note the symmetric appearance in ID decrease/increase. c) The tight spot
located at a depth of fault; the ID restriction along the wellbore is the cause of the abandoning stage 13 during pump down.

Pre-job modelling of perforation charges indicated an average hole diameter of approximately 10 mm

before pumping a stage; in a typical pump job, the diameter of perforations is known to increase due to
the erosion effect of sand-laden slurry passing through within a 4.5-inch. Casing (3.85 in ID), the spacing
of each calliper arm is 13 mm at the casing wall if the arms are evenly distributed. Therefore, at least one
calliper arm may resolve each perforation hole profile. A working hypothesis is that the more fluid passes
through a perforation, the more it will expand. Due to neither tracer nor MPLT data providing cluster-level
resolution, calliper information is the primary practical source of fluid distribution data for Carpentaria-2H.
Such data is critical in the iteration of perforation and treatment design.
A novel workflow was introduced to gain perforation erosion data. Firstly, perforation detection was
performed by identifying the calliper peaks in the 24 channels oriented to the top of the hole. Then, calliper
hole ID data was extracted adjacent to the perforations, and the profiles contrasted. Finally, a mathematical
model was developed to transform the degree of asymmetry into estimating fluid distribution among the
clusters within each stage by plotting the fluid distribution coefficient in the number of clusters against the
rate per cluster. One of the challenges to understanding the graph is the data's pausity to visualise the trend.
Furthermore, some outliers further hinder interpretation. Fig. 11 shows the treatment plot for the four outlier
stages, and it can be seen that all of them were suspected to have stage isolation issues, either a plug or
through cemented annulus.
SPE-217282-MS 11

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Figure 11—All outlier stages were suspected of having stage isolation issues during or before the fracturing job.

After taking the outliers out, plot the rest of the stages in Fig. 12—Fluid distribution coefficient in shot
number–rate per hole plane. The distribution coefficient is noted as the Gini coefficient; larger values mean
the distribution is more uneven. The Grey dashed line represents the total rate for a particular stage. Fig.
12; we can make the following observations:

• Most stages with better distribution are located where the rate/hole exceeded a certain critical value
between 2-3 m3/min.
• For XL-type jobs, the distribution evenness is more proportional to rate/hole.

• Shot numbers should be modified to allow a higher rate/hole, which would help to divert fluid to
all perforations in each cluster.

Figure 12—Fluid distribution coefficient in shot number–rate per hole plane. The
distribution coefficient is noted as the Gini coefficient; larger values mean the distribution
is more uneven. The Grey dashed line represents the total rate for a particular stage.
12 SPE-217282-MS

Design and Execution of Carpentaria-3H

Carpentaria-3H was the fifth horizontal well drilled in the Beetaloo Sub-basin and completed December
2022- January 2023, 5 months after the fracturing operation of Carpentaria-2H. Targeting the same Velkerri
B shale, the well is drilled from the same well pad but in the reverse direction. The lateral length reached
2660 m with a total depth of 4460 mRT, making it the longest horizontal well in Australia. Structural faults
of several hundred-metre frequency were observed using real-time azimuthal gamma-ray data; generally,
the throw was of the order of ten metres, and the largest fault had 30 metres of throw. Due to the faulting,
the well trajectory partially exited the B Shale, creating an undulating well path to steer to the target. This

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provided the opportunity to test various stratigraphic intervals in the well. The faulting and the long lateral
length brought additional completion challenges.

Lessons Learnt and Design Iteration

Table 3 summarises the knowledge we gained from Carpentaria and solutions planned in Caprentaria-3H.

Table 3—Lessons learnt in Carpentaria-2H and design considerations in Carpentaria-3H.

Domain Observation Design considerations Sources

• There is a slight increase in sand mass per stage as

Sand/cluster and gas contribution trend opposed to pumping larger jobs
Tracer/PLT
flattened as sand mass increased • Maintain base case sand volume per cluster and
increase cluster number

Completion • Pump XL jobs with reduced volumes near the fault;

Fault can lead to casing restriction, and
there is a need to balance the risk and waste
of lateral
avoid high fluid volume SW-type jobs near faults.
• Do not bridge single stages across observed faults
Calliper
regardless of throw magnitude
• Increase application of job volumes when away from
faulting, hybrid-type

Increase limited entry effect for more even

fluid coverage
• Drop shots/cluster Calliper
Perforation
NWBPL observed during operation. • Change perforation charges for deeper penetration Pressure analysis

• Height limitation in simulation

Geomechanical complexity
• Eventually, we can be more aggressive with the pump
Pressure analysis
schedule.
• Special considerations when fracture is required for
vertical coverage

NWBPL observed during operation. • Add 0.5-PPA 100-mesh sand slug Pressure analysis
Frac Treatment
• Improve placement efficiency for each type of
Sand mass is more correlated to gas treatment.
Tracers/PLT
contribution • Pump less SW jobs due to low average sand
concentration

Sanding issue occurred at XL stages but • Controlling the volume of XL job and maximum PPA
Calliper
could be related to SW stages nearby as conductivity is not a priority.

Completion and Perforation Design

Notwithstanding the five stages that were not attempted at Carpentaria-2H due to an abundance of caution
in the early appraisal phase of the play, a passive avoidance of faults is not a long-term strategy as it leaves
extensive unstimulated lateral lengths. Hence, the Carpentaria-3H stage design did not entail avoidance of
faulting but focused on preventing excessive fault agitation. During pre-job design, the perforation-to-fault
distance was assigned to 15 to 30 metres, which exceeds average cluster spacing by 40% to 80%.
The perforation charge used for Carpentatia-3H had deeper penetration than Carpentaria-2H. The
Carpentatia-3H chare reduced entrance hole diameter but had greater penetration (Fig. 13). This charge was
SPE-217282-MS 13

more favourable for limited entry design and aids fracture penetration through near wellbore (NWB) hoop
stress area.

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Figure 13—Perforation charges used in Carpentaria-2H and Cappentaira-3H.

Fluid and Sand Selection

Carpentaria-2H production testing did not clarify which fluid design (SW, hybrid or XL) outperformed.
However, Carpentaria-3H's initial pre-job design prioritised XL fluid selection due to its enhanced efficiency
in sand placement observed at Carpentaria-2H. Besides the 100-mesh and 40/70-mesh sand widely used
across stages, trial stages with alternative proppant mixes were designed. Two of the 40 planned stages were
designed with high 40/70-mesh ceramic proppant volumes, which retain more conductivity as the reservoir
depletes and effective stress on the proppant increases (Fig.14). Five stages were designed with 30/50-mesh
sand as tail-in, from 7.5% to 25% of the total sand mass.

Figure 14—Sand and proppant conductivity plot. Larger mesh sizes offer superior conductivity at the initial
production phase. Ceramic proppant appears advantageous as the reservoir depletes during long term production.
14 SPE-217282-MS

Pump Schedules
Pump schedules were adapted to local variations such as stratigraphic interval and distance to faulting. XL
jobs scaled down to 75% of baseline for stages near faults to avoid pumping a large quantity of fluid, which
could more easily mobilise the fault. Vertical connection to the primary target interval was pursued for the
few out-of-target stages where the wellbore departed the target shale due to faulting. Small-scale XL types
with aggressive sand schedules were designed to maximise fracture conductivity.
High fracture conductivity is not required for unconventional stimulation - it is rather an artefact of
the need for high viscosity to create the necessary width for placing any sand. Low sand concentration

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in the polymer fluid results in an unfavourable polymer concentration factor (Ayoub et al., 2006) and a
much shorter effective fracture length than the propped fracture length. In Carpentaria-3H, we adopted an
aggressive sand schedule with rapid concentration step-ups and maintained most of the sand placed near
the highest concentration, in line with an ideal proppant schedule for a high fluid efficiency fluid.

Execution and Operation Observations

Carpentaria-3H, Australia's largest multistage fracturing, started in December 2022 and took 41 days for 40
stages, including equipment rig up and rig down, waiting on sand and weather. In total, 12.8 million pounds
of proppant and 5.3 million gallons of fluid were pumped. Due to the lateral length and stage, number nearly
double compared to Carpentaria-2H, the fluid and sand increased 82% and 129%, respectively (Fig.15).

Figure 15—Comparison of stage number, fluid and sand usage.

Further details about material balance are shown in Fig. 16. During job execution, we emphasised
schedule aggressivity. For all types of jobs, maximum proppant concentrations were increased above that
pumped at Carpentaria-2H. The increased average proppant concentrations in hybrid and SW job types
indicated that the fluid required to place the given sand mass could be reduced. XL job type concentration
was impacted due to the reduction of sand mass, and therefore total fluid, at fault proximal stages. Due
to pumping strategy observations at Carpentatia-2H, more sand could be placed with aggressive step-
ups in SW jobs at Carpentaria-3H. Furthermore, the hybrid design had been significantly improved by
incorporating the changes in SW and XL job type, resulting in greater sand volume being pumped with
lower fluid volume.
SPE-217282-MS 15

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Figure 16—Comparison of proppant concentrations and fluid volume by job types

Casing ID restriction was not encountered during the execution of this job. This implied that reducing
the XL job volumes near faults was effective. However, this is not confirmed and is a working hypothesis as
calliper logging, or a definition fault of stresses comparing the well with the Carpentaria-2H is not available.
NWBPL became less severe in Caprentaria-3H, as is shown in Fig. 17. The pressure "hump" was minimal
compared to that in Carpentaria-2H, and this indicated the positive effect of low-concentration finer mesh
slugs and deep-penetrating charges.

Figure 17—Pressure trends before and after sand arrival at the perforations. Most
stages in Carpentaria-2H showed a "hump", indicating the presence of NWBPL.

Several technical trials were implemented throughout the program. Three out of B Shale target stages
were successfully placed when sand started entering the fracture, the pressure exhibited a declining trend,
and ISIG of these stages was not anomalous, indicating that despite the pinching from the NWB high-
stress area, the fracture managed to penetrate back to the pay zone. It should be noted that this does not
guarantee the gas can flow through the pinching point, even if the maximum sand concentration reaches 5
to 6 PPA. The sand trial stages were also executed successfully (Fig. 18), and tracers or PLT can evaluate
the production impact.
16 SPE-217282-MS

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Figure 18—Treating plots for ceramic (a) and bigger mesh (b) stages (with
pressure, rate and concentration, respectively, in red, blue and black)

Discussion and Conclusions

During the post-fracturing cleanup stage, Carpentaria 3H's production rate has ranged between 2.3 MMscf/
D and 5.7 MMscf/D, with an average of 2.6 MMscf/D over 27 days. Subsequently, the well was put into
shut-in "soaking" for future extended production testing. At this juncture, the following points can be drawn
from the operations in the two Carpentaria wells:

• It is recommended to verify natural and induced fracture geometry in future wells with downhole
microseismic, image logging and strain measurements. Notwithstanding the lack of candidate
monitoring wells.
• Ongoing geomechanics modelling and verification, especially anisotropic geomechanical property
modelling, is required to constrain the fracture propagation mechanism fully.
• To understand the cluster contribution, performing downhole multi-spinners production logging is
desirable to understand the fluid flow profile within the wellbore. DST/DVS fibre and downhole
camera may help to overcome the challenges of small incremental contributions from individual
clusters/stage.
• The extreme limited entry perforation design is preferred to distribute fluid more evenly between
clusters. However, the effectiveness of limited entry decreases as the cluster number increases.
Erring on fewer clusters per stage at the expense of operational efficiency may be prudent during
the appraisal phase.
• As indicated by calliper logging, compressive forces whilst pumping fault proximal stages may
lead to minor casing restriction. In Carpentaria-3H, the strategy of perforating near the faults and
stimulating with reduced XL volume was successful. This strategy will be continually reviewed in
future wells to increase job size proximal to minor faults.
• In future wells, as stage and cluster spacing are likely to become more tightly spaced, fracture
isolation, especially interstage, is critical to avoid communication through the cemented annulus.
Post-job evaluation, such as PLT or multi-arm calliper, would help. Still, onsite diagnostic methods
such as high-frequency pressure monitoring (Chang et al. 2021) or other techniques can provide
more agility in the perforation scheme's execution of fracturing.
• Unlike other unconventional plays where proppant admittance can be an issue, pumping larger
sand tail-in is operationally feasible. The gain in NWB conductivity must be verified by production
results.

Acknowledgment
The authors thank Empire Energy Group for their support and authorisation to publish this case study.
SPE-217282-MS 17

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