A recent customer in the Utica shale play of the Appalachian basin chose to use our VapR™ dissolvable frac plug because of its minimalistic design, superior downhole performance during frac treatment, and customizable material based on the variant fluid environment. The plug was installed in combination with our Setter™ composite frac plugs.
The customer deployed multiple VapR dissolvable frac plugs with the deepest plug being installed at 16,247 ft. They were able to maximize efficiency in reducing water consumption and operation time during pump-down operations with rates up to 19 bpm and 550-ft/min line speed due to the frac plug’s robust design. During the actual frac operations, 100% of the ball seat signatures were identified, no slipping of the frac plugs was observed, and the maximum frac rate achieved was 90 bpm at 11,400-psi surface treating pressure. During one of the stages treatment was shut down due to an issue with surface equipment that left the VapR exposed to corrosive downhole fluids for a few hours. Despite long exposure in a corrosive environment, the VapR continued to hold treatment pressure, maintaining zonal isolation and maximizing performance.
There were no downhole tags observed for the frac plugs during the cleanout run that was done to mill-out the Setter composite plugs in the upper stage. This confirmed that frac plugs successfully dissolved and the operator was extremely pleased with the mill-out of the Setter composite plug and the dissolution of the VapR frac plugs.
Through the simple, unique, and minimalist design, we were able to perform the high-pressure frac stimulation and dissolve the plug well within the customer’s expected time window. Using the VapR plugs allowed the customer to begin producing the well much faster than expected.
