James Lime Play

Production Decline Curves

This play has experienced very successful re-fracs of older horizontal wells. Figure 6 shows the decline curve for the Fossil Energy Fulton Fuller No. 1H well in Martinsville, SE Field. The well shows an initial decline curve, with fracture treatment later. The result was increased reserves and improved rate. The original completion would have ultimately yielded only 200 MMCFG, but after frac the well is on target to produce over 1 BCFG.

Another note worthy well is the Harman Operating Louis Foster Blount No. 1 well at Black Bayou Field in Nacogdoches County, Texas ( Figure 7). Completed in 1988 for 262 MCFGPD, the well declined quickly, and the operator was forced to acid frac the well. The well responded to the stimulation and is on track to produce 1 BCFG. This is significant because acid has not worked very well in the Huxley Field or Trawick Field. The reason for this becomes clear if the rock pore-type is known. Chalky micro-porosity is prone to damage from drilling and stimulation fluids. The Nacogdoches area has less of this rock type, excluding Trawick Field. It is also significant to know that an acid frac works, due to the fact that this type of stimulation is less expensive than a CO2 foam frac or gelled-sand frac.

Figure 8 demonstrates the play’s “type” decline curve. It is the production history of the Samson Lone Star Johnson-Rippy No. 1 horizontal well, which has never been fracture stimulated, but still represents a slightly better than average-case scenario for cash flow modeling. For the statistical database, it equates to at least a 1 BCFG Cum well, but for the economic model, we took the production out 15 years with a 1.4 BCFG EUR. More details on the numbers are in the Economics section of this report.