BroadBand Shield Service | Avoid Frac Hits | SLB

BroadBand Shield

Fracture-geometry control service

BroadBand Shield service is used to stimulate an infill well (light green), far-field diversion (yellow) limits fracture growth outside of the designed fracture area, preventing communication with neighboring wells and increasing fracture complexity.
After BroadBand Shield Before BroadBand Shield

Increase fracture complexity while avoiding well-to-well communication and detrimental frac hits

BroadBand Shield fracture-geometry control service stimulates production in unconventional wells while limiting the risk of communicating with neighboring wells or fracturing into undesirable zones. Particularly useful for infill wells and multiwell pads in tightly spaced fields, the service delivers engineered fracture stimulation treatments that constrain fracture growth with far-field diversion. The proprietary fluid system includes a proprietary blend of multimodal particles to bridge only the fracture tip and thereby prevent excessive fracture length and height growth.

WellWatcher Stim service expedites and facilitates stimulation treatment optimization by analyzing high-frequency pressure pulse data to rapidly detect downhole events.

BroadBand Shield Service Eliminates Sand Cleanout, Oil Deferral Concerns

In two infill wells, WellWatcher Stim service sees frac hits in up to 61% of stages stimulated with conventional fracturing, North Dakota

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BroadBand Shield Fracture-Geometry Control Service

Improve fracture complexity

Where conventional fracturing aims to create one long fracture without much complexity—aiming for long fractures and deep reach—BroadBand Shield service uses far-field diversion to restrict fracture length, using the energy to create more fractures with shorter lengths.

By employing an engineered fracture design that limits fracture growth, the service both optimizes the fracture geometry and increases the fracture complexity in unconventional reservoirs. This combination helps improve reservoir drainage by maximizing reservoir contact within defined areas and limiting pressure drops along the edge and outside of the desired drainage area.

Retain fracture conductivity

Whereas conventional near-wellbore diversion relies on relatively large particles to temporarily bridge perforations and smaller particles and fibers to plug the permeability between the large particles, BroadBand Shield service uses much smaller multimodal diversion particles. The engineered particle sizes and pumping schedules ensure that these particles can pass easily through the perforations and fractures to permanently plug only the fracture tips.

The smaller particle sizes are more easily transported even in relatively low-viscosity fluids and into smaller fractures than are possible with conventional proppant. In addition, the engineered pumping schedules place the diversion material only before conventional proppant stages, which means they have no adverse impact on conductivity in the propped fracture.