Ukraine nine-stage frac could set European mark

Schlumberger has rigged up to conduct a nine-stage hydraulic frac job for JKX Oil & Gas PLC in Ukraine at what the companies believe may be the largest onshore frac in Europe to date.

The job is figured to take 40 days and initial flow from the well is expected in August.

The site is JKX’s R-103 well on the Rudenkovskoye license in Poltava, Ukraine. The well was drilled to 4,641 m measured depth into the tight Devonian Rudenkovskoye sandstone reservoir and has a horizontal section of just over 1,000 m at 3,650 m true vertical depth.

Schlumberger plans to inject more than 1,200 tons of proppant supported by as much as 35,000 bbl of frac fluid. Clean-up is anticipated to take 2-4 weeks, and the well would reach stable production about a month later.

The first step in the operation, which began June 30, is to run in the hole using a coiled tubing unit to set and test the first plug at the end of the well. The CTU will then jet perforate the first set of perforations before carrying out a preliminary minifrac. This minifrac will permit fine-tuning of parameters for the main fracs, each of which will transport more than 120 tons of proppant into the formation. The sequence of plug, perforate, and frac will be repeated eight times.

JKX Chief Executive Paul Davies said, “A considerable amount of planning and preparation has gone into this pioneering project. We remain confident that the application of this proven technique for tight gas reservoirs will allow us to develop commercially the very large gas in-place in the Rudenkovskoye field.”