Abstract

To date, Shell has completed 32 unconventional horizontal wells in the lowermost Vaca Muerta Formation across three contiguous blocks. As a result, reservoir properties and corresponding well performance have largely been de-risked for one of the main potential target intervals in the Vaca Muerta play.

Delivering commercially attractive fields in unconventional plays requires competitive well performance—typically in the top quartile of the play and/or of competitor group. To achieve such performance it is necessary a deep understanding of the subsurface, and well completion designs, as well as an ability to consistently drill and complete wells, producing predicted volumes and rates, on time and on budget.

Two key factors to effectively and efficiently de-risk the Vaca Muerta play in the Sierras Blancas (SB) and Cruz de Lorena (CdL) blocks were (1) a step-by-step hydrocarbon maturation approach, based on a process developed over several years of experience with unconventional self-sourced plays in North America, and (2) leveraging optimized drilling and completion designs and execution lessons from other assets in North America.

This chapter describes processes and results from the integration of geologic, geophysical, production, and reservoir engineering data and outlines the benefits from the company’s North American operational expertise.