American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2018 - 59

SpecialReport: Well Stimulation & Completion Technology
In evaluating each AOI, it is assumed
that unlimited capital is available for
development. The development pace is
instead restricted by limitations such as
pipeline availability, land acquisition,
operational constraints, rig applicability,
etc. Each AOI is assessed by utilizing
learning curves for improved cycle times
throughout the development life cycle,
and performance improvements to type
curves, operating costs and capital expenses also were included over time.
Operating expenses are reduced over
time to reflect the historical cost reductions from the analogue field, and reduced land and title costs are included
for the second stacked pay formation
that is drilled.
After the eight high-graded AOIs were
evaluated and ranked in the asset assessment, it was determined that seven delineation areas were required to reduce the
risk within each AOI with the highest
opportunities in regard to net present
value and internal rate of return rankings
(Figure 1, right).

region is compartmentalized with more
than 300 feet of pay and potential stackedpay lateral development across the Utica,
Point Pleasant and Lexington, with a 3.5
Bcf/1,000 feet type curve at a TVD of
13,200 feet.
Of the five new deep dry Utica wells
drilled by CNX, two additional wells-
the Aikens 5M and Aikens 5J-were drilled
as offsets to the Gaut 4IHSU to prove
commercial viability in the CPA region.

Both horizontal wells were hydraulically
fractured based on the same design as
the Gaut 4IHSU, and as shown in Figure
4, have performed above the region's 3.5
Bcf/1,000 feet type curve.
Utilizing machine learning, learning
curves from the new wells in the CPA region and Ohio dry analogue area were
utilized to drive inputs into the development plan for cycle times. The development plan balances the risk associated

Phase Two
Over the next several months after
phase one was completed, multiple delineation wells were drilled in many of
the targeted AOIs from the output. CNX
drilled five wells, and information from
another 12 wells was acquired through
participation opportunities and data trades
with other operators so that the well logs,
core data and production data were shared
and included in the updated earth model
and asset assessment.
The newly acquired data improved
the facies model by utilizing the sequential
Gaussian method of converting density
to facies (Figure 2). This was realized in
a stochastic simulation within the earth
model. After completing the earth model
update, three distinct areas within the
Utica play were identified, each with
unique characteristics: the Ohio dry gas
region, the southwestern Pennsylvania
region (SWPA), and the Central Pennsylvania (CPA) region (Figure 3).
The Ohio dry gas region, the original
analogue for the Deep Dry Utica play,
has low fracture intensity with a type
curve of 2.8 Bcf/1,000 feet, 80 feet of
pay and a true vertical depth of 10,500
feet. The SWPA region, which dips into
West Virginia, is a highly structured, intermittently fractured area with a 3.2
Bcf/1,000 feet type curve, 80 feet of pay
and a TVD of 12,000 feet. The CPA
DECEMBER 2018 59

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2018

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