Enhanced Oil Recovery Being Applied To Tight Oil Reservoirs In The Bakken

Lightstream Resources, the second largest land owner in Saskatchewan's Bakken play expects reservoir recovery factors to improve from approximately 15 percent under primary methods to over 25 percent with natural gas as a flooding agent.

An entry on the company's website says, "After laboratory analysis, computer simulations and early field experimentation, we believe that natural gas would be a more effective flooding agent in an EOR scheme as it would sweep the tight Bakken reservoir more efficiently."

Natural gas used in their planned EOR projects will initially come from their production facilities and is expected to be recovered and sold at a later date which will further enhance the full cycle economics of EOR.

Bilateral evolution optimizes results

Lightstream found earlier well designs in the Bakken often caused a higher influx of water to flow in from surrounding formations, resulting in lower oil recovery rates.

To fix the problem, they discovered an efficient and profitable solution.

"We modified the fluids and proppants, the injection rates, the pressure environment and other aspects of the completion. These modifications led to our multi-stage fracture stimulations in horizontal wells unlocking oil and gas formations with accelerated efficiency," says Lightstream.

The company is continuously innovating and evolving the efficiency of their horizontal drilling and fracture stimulation methods. Lightstream developed a drilling and extraction strategy that drills bilateral wells.

Lightstream says, "This dual-leg tactic provides increased exposure to generally low permeability reservoir. In fact, four bilateral wells will fully develop a section in the Bakken, while eight single laterals are required to achieve the same well density."

"We have also been able to push the boundaries of the Bakken fairway with the introduction of delayed fracs, and Cleantech™ fracing solution."

"Cleantech™ is a completion fluid used in the Bakken to better control the fracturing process within the desired zone and reduce water cuts. This leads to higher initial oil rates, greater economic returns and increased opportunities within the area." The application of Cleantech™ is one of many examples of how Lightstream Resources has used technology to increase value."

2013 Third Quarter Production a 17% Increase Over 2012

In an Oct. 9, 2013 Marketwired announcement, Lightstream announced their third quarter production increased 17 percent over third quarter 2012.

In southeast Saskatchewan, 11 wells were drilled in the third quarter and 8 wells were placed on production. Year to date they have 36 wells drilled and 32 wells on production with plans to drill another 14 wells in southeast Saskatchewan by year end.

The Marketwired announcement states, "We continue to work towards leveling out our production profile and increasing our annual average production levels on a year over year basis."