Completion data recently released by Texas regulators spotlights the strong productivity of Coterra Energy’s large-scale Permian projects. The data includes two wells completed early this year on the company’s 14-well Prewit-Justify/Authentic project in Culberson County. The Authentic 13 C State 3H was fractured with 1,804 lb/ft of proppant and 35 bbl/ft of fluid across a 16,272-foot lateral and produced 4,084 boe/d (66% oil) during a 24-hour test, or 251 boe/d per 1,000 feet. The Authentic 13 D State 4H’s 15,850-foot lateral, stimulated with 3,099 lb/ft of proppant and 57 bbl/ft of fluid, flowed an IP24 of 3,679 boe/d (64% oil), or 232 boe/d per 1,000 feet. Both wells were tested on 1-inch chokes, and their FTPs averaged 560 psi.
The Prewit-Justify/Authentic project, which Coterra began completing in 2H22 and planned to finish in Q1, targets the Wolfcamp at spacing of eight wells per section with laterals stretching over three miles. Test results have been released for 11 of the 14 wells, and six have at least three months of data. Those six wells averaged cumulative initial 90-day volumes of 228,559 boe, equivalent to 163 boe/d per 1,000 feet based on laterals averaging 15,574 feet.
For comparison, Coterra’s average 2020 Wolfcamp completion in Culberson County had a much shorter lateral of about 10,100 feet and delivered 90-day volumes just over 152,200 boe. (Enverus Foundations users, click here to interact with the workbook.)
Coterra says its large-scale Permian projects like Prewit-Justify/Authentic are driving efficiencies, with the concentrated geographical focus reducing mobilization time for drilling and completion services and allowing the company to utilize facilities and infrastructure across more wells. And unlike many of its peers, the company says it did not experience degradation in its productivity last year.
“We do not see a change in our Delaware productivity,” Coterra CEO Thomas Jorden said on a Feb. 23 earnings call. “One of the big differences … is in 2022 we just drilled a couple of absolutely lights-out outstanding projects, and I’m talking about projects with more than 10 wells that averaged thousands of barrels a day.”
Also in Culberson County, Coterra last year tested co-development of the Upper Wolfcamp with the overlying Harkey Shale on a full section. The project had four Harkey wells on 1,320-foot spacing and eight Upper Wolfcamp wells on 700-foot spacing. The company was pleased with the results and anticipates that future Wolfcamp/Harkey co-developments with 10,100-foot laterals will pay out in six months at $75/bbl and $3.50/Mcf pricing.
Asked about well-to-well interference between the two zones, Jorden did not see it as an issue. “When it comes to the Wolfcamp and Harkey, we generally see that as one petroleum system,” he said. “And there will be some degree of pressure communication between the Wolfcamp and Harkey depending on where you are in the basin. But we do not see that as a factor that degrades overall well productivity.”
Among Coterra’s notable Permian projects for this year is Prewit Barbaro, which will include nine Wolfcamp and four Harkey wells expected to come online in Q4.
