SPE 164030

Field Cases of Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation Diagnostics Using Fiber

Optic Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) Measurements and Analyses
Mathieu M. Molenaar, SPE and Barbara E. Cox, SPE, Shell Canada Ltd.

Copyright 2013, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Unconventional Gas Conference and Exhibition held in Muscat, Oman, 28–30 January 2013.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
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Abstract
Deciding on the optimum spacing between fractures and selecting the optimum fracture treatment parameters is a key
challenge in designing the hydraulic fracture stimulations of Unconventional Gas and Liquid Rich Shale (UGLRS) wells.
To make those decisions more effectively and more rapidly, (downhole) hydraulic fracture diagnostic tools can be used
which provide a better understanding of how and where fractures initiate and what the distribution of fluid and proppant
volume is downhole. One emerging technology, fiber optic distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) has the potential of providing
such key diagnostic insights during hydraulic fracturing operations in real-time.
This paper describes some of the background technology and presents the results of several hydraulic fracture stimulation
(HFS) diagnostic case studies. The results illustrate how DAS has been used to perform real-time monitoring for both open-
hole multi-stage fracturing and “Cemented Plug & Perf Completions”. DAS has provided valuable insight as to the
stimulation effectiveness. The technique has also provided insights into effective zonal isolation when using mechanical
isolation during the hydraulic-fracturing process that would otherwise not have been possible. It also complements other HFS
diagnostic technologies (e.g. tracers, micro-seismic, distributed temperature sensing (DTS), production logs (PLT)).
DAS monitoring of hydraulic fracture stimulation can help accelerate the learning curve and drive performance
improvements. Installation of fiber optic cables early in a field’s life or when entering a new geological/geo-mechanical
situation can allow for accelerated optimization of future wells.

Introduction
Given the low productivity of Unconventional Gas and Liquid Rich Shale (UGLRS) reservoirs (microdarcy permeability),
the key element of successful exploitation is the ability to optimally create multiple hydraulic fractures along the wellbore to
deliver high production rates are sustained during the production phase. Because the completion of a well can be the largest
single well cost component, balancing the expense of hydraulic fracture stimulation versus production benefits is crucial for
economic development of these reservoirs.
Deciding on the optimum spacing between fractures and selecting the optimum fracture treatment parameters is a key
challenge in designing the hydraulic fracture stimulations of UGLRS wells. In general, the main sources of (real-time)
information for the evaluation of hydraulic fracture stimulations are limited to using surface wellhead rates and pressures, and
on occasion, downhole pressures are available.. To provide a better understanding of the stimulation characteristics such as
fracture geometry, proppant placement in the fracture and for fracture conductivity, (downhole) hydraulic fracture diagnostic
tools can be used, which make optimization decisions more effectively and rapidly (Barree et al., 2002).
One fiber-optic based diagnostic technology that operators and service companies have already been deploying is
distributed temperature sensing (DTS) to monitor hydraulic fracturing stimulations from inside the wellbore. A fiber optic
cable can be installed downhole to monitor the temperature profile during completion operations (Huckabee, 2009). Fracture
diagnostics based on DTS data during the stimulation can provide a qualitative assessment of the placement of the fluid and
proppant (Sierra, et al., 2008). The DTS measurements taken immediately after the stimulation (shut-in/”warmback” profiles)
are the most useful for gaining insights into the distribution of hydraulic fracturing fluid. The warm-back information
typically provides more detailed information with respect to points of fluid entry into the reservoir, any indication of points of
crossflow, and potentially which of the fractures took the most treatment volume (Holley, et al., 2011).
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Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is a relative new technology in the oil and gas industry that can be used for downhole
applications, ranging from in-well completions (Molenaar, et al., 2011) to geophysical monitoring (Mestayer, et al., 2011). Its
application for monitoring hydraulic fracture treatments has been field trialed in many different locations, well configurations
and reservoir formations over the past few years (MacPhail, et. al., 2012 and Molenaar, et. al., 2012). DAS can provide a
quantitative assessment of the fluid and proppant placement in each perf cluster.
The simultaneous application and analysis of DAS and DTS measurements can increase the overall confidence in
interpreting and understanding what is occurring downhole during the hydraulic fracture treatments. When combined with the
hydraulic fracturing parameters (pressures, rate and concentrations), DTS and DAS can offer real time insights into:
• the completion stimulation distribution effectiveness,
• optimization of fluid and proppant placement,
• mechanical well issues (e.g. leaks of internal bridge plugs, external packers, etc.),
This paper will illustrate how downhole fiber optic distributed temperature (DTS) and acoustic (DAS) measurements enhance
the ability to monitor and understand the hydraulic stimulation treatment. Examples are shown for both an openhole packer
with fracture sleeves and a “plug & perf” limited entry designed hydraulic fracture stimulation treatment.
The next two sections will present brief descriptions of the two main system components required for the downhole
deployment of DAS; the working principles of fiber-optic sensing and the downhole deployment configuration of the fiber.

Fiber-Optic (FO) Sensing Technology

This section gives a brief description of the working principles of the fiber-optic (FO) sensing technologies that can be
applied in the oil and gas industry for downhole applications. FO sensing was first introduced in the 1990s with single-point
pressure and temperature sensors. Today, the different type of fiber optic techniques that are applied downhole vary from a
single-point sensor measurement at the end of the fiber, to an array of quasi-distributed point sensor measurements, to a fully
distributed sensing where the entire fiber becomes the sensor (see Figure 1). This can be used to measure a range of
parameters including temperature, strain, pressure and most recently, acoustics.
The inherent long-term reliability of such sensors, combined in a downhole deployable single optical fiber cable makes
fiber-optic technology an effective platform for permanent sensing in oil and gas wells. FO sensing is envisaged to have a
broad range of applications including distributed inflow measurement, sand detection, gas breakthrough, outflow lift
optimization, smart well completion monitoring, and more (Koelman et al. 2012).

Figure 1: Various fiber-optic sensing configurations Figure 2: Different components of the back scattered light

Distributed FO Sensing
Of all the techniques available, distributed acoustic sensing in particular can have a significant impact in well surveillance
evaluations. Light in an optical fiber travels at about 0.2 m/nsec. That means that a 10-nanosecond pulse of light occupies
about 2 meters in the fiber as it propagates and that each 10 nanoseconds of time in the optical echo-response can be
associated with reflections coming from a 1-meter portion of the fiber. By generating a fresh pulse every 100 μsec and
continuously processing the returned optical signal, one can, in principle, interrogate each meter of a 10 km fiber at a 10 kHz
sample rate. Local changes in the optical backscatter due to changes in the environment of the fiber can thus become the basis
for using the fiber as a continuous array of sensors. As shown in Figure 2 the light scattered back from the fiber optic
contains three different spectral parts:
 the Rayleigh scattering with the wavelength of the laser source used,
 the Stokes line components from photons shifted to longer wavelength (lower frequency), and
 the anti-Stokes line components with photons shifted to shorter wavelength (higher frequency) than the Rayleigh
scattering.
By analyzing the backscattered features it is possible to measure temperature, strain and acoustics (Healey, 1984).
SPE 164030 3

When a fiber is deployed downhole in either a permanent or temporary configuration, the fiber can become a distributed
array with thousands of channels using distributed sensing techniques. The nearly continuous sampling in both space and
time uniquely enables surveillance of the entire wellbore at any moment in time.
By deploying fiber optic cable on the outside of the production casing (as described in the next section), the passive
nature of fiber optic sensors allow intervention and interference-free measurements of in-well activities during the
completions of UGLTO wells. In this paper, the potential of FO sensing is illustrated using examples from (real-time)
monitoring of DAS and DTS of hydraulic fracturing stimulation of horizontal wells.

FO Cable Deployment for Hydraulic Fracture Monitoring

The field cases discussed in this paper are horizontal wells with two different completion types. To monitor the hydraulic
fracture stimulation, the fiber optic cables were permanently deployed on the outside of the production casing down to the toe
of the well. The cable is a ¼” stainless steel Tube Encapsulated Control-line (TEC) with three optical fibers (2 x multi-mode
(MM) and 1 x single-mode (SM)).

¼“ Fibre Optic cable 
& two ½“  wire ropes Blast protector Cross coupling  protector

Perforation  cluster

Figure 3: Completion Schematic showing the cemented liner completion configuration.

Figure 3 shows a horizontal well with a cased and cemented completion design, isolated hydraulic fracturing stages, and
a “plug & perforate” completion method. For this type of completion, two ½” wire ropes are run next to the fiber optic line
along the horizontal section of the wellbore, plus centralized cross coupling protectors at every coupling to protect the cable.
Blast protectors are installed at each planned perforation interval for additional protection. The perforation strategy is
adjusted to zero degree phasing to avoid perforating the fiber optic cable.

¼“ Fibre Optic cable
Cross coupling  protector

Fracture sleeve Swell packer

Figure 4: Completion Schematic non-cemented with external packers and fracture ports.

Figure 4 shows the completion design of a horizontal well with external packers and fracture ports. All tools are in the
lateral portion of the wellbore. The cable is run in the hole with clamps at every coupling joint to attach the cable. The
fracture sleeves and swell packers are designed such that a ¼” fiber cable can be run with these tools. The swell packers have
a groove cut through the rubber packers length-wise that allows for the fiber cable to be run as a pass-thru. The fracture
sleeves are designed such that where the cable is run, certain holes are blanked off, and the cable is protected along the length
of the sleeve to prevent erosion during the pumping of the fracture treatment.

FIELD CASE I: Openhole, Multi-stage Completion

The field case discussed in this section is a horizontal well with an uncemented liner “openhole” multi-stage completion in a
low permeability quartz-rich sandstone, interbedded with sandy shales and some thin coal seams. This type of well is
completed with isolated hydraulic fracturing stages using a ball drop activated fracture sleeve system.
Each fracture stage is initiated by dropping a ball into the well from the surface. When the ball lands and seats in the
fracture sleeve above the previous stage, it isolates that interval and shifts open the next sleeve thus allowing fracture
stimulation of the next interval. External swell-packers provide the annular isolation between intervals. By dropping
progressively larger-sized balls at the conclusion of each stimulation, this completion process is repeated for each fracture
stage along the horizontal wellbore.
4 SPE 164030

The challenge with openhole multi-stage completions is controlling and understanding the hydraulic fracture complexity
created within a stage and more specifically, the distribution of frac fluid and proppant into the near-wellbore area of the
reservoir. Typically these systems have limited control over the number and the location of frac initiation points. Attempting
to verify how many fractures are created without advanced diagnostics (e.g. micro-seismic) is impossible and cannot be
effectively modeled with conventional fracture simulators. Therefore, in this case study, a fiber-optic cable was clamped
along the outside of the production casing for the entire length of the horizontal well for monitoring during the fracture
stimulation treatment via DAS and DTS.

Ball-Activation of a Sliding Sleeve

Figure 5 shows the recorded DAS data during a ball-drop into the wellbore; the data is displayed as a function of time for the
entire wellbore (all the channels from the 2000 m to the toe of the well). The colors represent acoustic energy levels across a
chosen frequency range which best visualizes the ball being carried by the fluid in the wellbore (black is high, red is low).
The DAS data shows the ball is dropping at almost constant velocity in the vertical section. When the ball reaches the build
section and is being carried in the horizontal lateral, the velocity of the ball is reduced. The ball is also easily traceable when
it hits and passes through the larger-diameter sliding sleeve/seats in the heel of the well on its way to its target seat.

Figure 5: DAS data showing the drop and ball-activation of the a sliding sleeve

The ball seating is evident at the surface as the wellhead pressure increases. On the DAS display, the isolation of the
downstream part of the wellbore during the pressure build-up, and the sleeve shift operations are clearly observed by the
associated pressure pulses observed along wellbore.

Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation Diagnostic using DAS and DTS

The hydraulic-fracturing stage presented in this paper consisted of 50 tonnes of 40/70-mesh proppant in a 430 m3
slickwater stage using a maximum concentration of 180 kg/m3. The target openhole interval was 90 m in length, and was the
3rd interval to be stimulated. During treatment, total slurry rates ranged from 5 to 9 m3/min, with typical treating pressures
ranging between 45 and 55 MPa.
Figure 6 shows the DTS color map along the wellbore across Intervals 2 & 3 throughout the duration of the Stage 3
treatment. The wellbore completion intervals are shown on the vertical axis, with black squares indicating the external casing
swell-packers. The red circles indicate the sliding sleeve locations. The treatment data is displayed over the time period along
the x-axis. The light grey color (indicating the greatest cooling) represents direct fracturing-fluid contact on the fiber-optic
cable and indicates where fluid is traveling during the stimulation (Holley, 2012).
Two observations derived from the DTS data are: 1) clearly not all of the stimulation covered the entire the targeted zone
of Interval 3; and 2) a portion of Interval 2 was re-stimulated.
Shown in Figure 7 is the raw DAS data with inserted pictures (a) and (b) of the processed acoustic measurements for
Intervals 2 and 3, respectively. The intervals have been processed using frequency band ranges that best correlates with the
“noise” frequencies generated by the injection rates. This processing is done to enhance the visualization and evaluation of
the treatment fluid distribution during the stimulation treatment. Similar to the DTS measurements, the DAS data also shows
that Interval 3 was only partially being stimulated and that frac fluid was also leaking into Interval 2 during the Stage 3
stimulation.
The openhole interval was targeting a pay section from 4056 to 4168 m MD. However, the DTS data (Figure 6) shows
fluid contact only between 4060 and 4126 m MD throughout the duration of the stimulation. The fracturing fluid does not
move from the sleeve toward the swell packer separating Intervals 2 and 3. It can be concluded that only 60% of Interval 3
was stimulated. It should be noted that the DAS data seems to reveal more of the dynamic changes that occur throughout the
hydraulic fracturing treatment. When the sand concentration is increased (14:00 a.m.), the noise in Interval 3 starts to spread
out and more of the uphole interval (from the sleeve toward the swell packer separating Intervals 3 and 4) is being stimulated.
SPE 164030 5

From the DTS (Figure 6) and DAS (Figure 7) color maps, it is clearly observed that the fluid leak is passing through the
tubing and because of an improper ball seat the fracture sleeve did not provide adequate tubing isolation (Holley, 2012;
Molenaar, 2012). Recognizing that the temperature warmback takes some time, the processed DAS measurements and the
DTS measurements over the Interval 2 show a comparable contour where re-stimulation is taking place of the second
interval.

Figure 6: DTS color map during showing the temperature Figure 7: DAS color map showing the acoustic
along the wellbore across treatment intervals 2 and 3 measurements for the intervals 2 and 3throughout the
throughout the duration of the Stage 3 stimulation. duration of the Stage 3 stimulation.

The DAS results for the Intervals 2 and 3 had to be processed using different selection of the frequency bands to best
correlate with the injection rates. Based on the frequency bandwidth used for picture (b) in Figure 7, it appears the flow rates
in Interval 2 are lower than in Interval 3 and it is likely that little fluid actually entered the Interval 2 area during the Stage 3
treatment.
The DTS and DAS analysis on all stages in this well showed two indications of a packer leaking and a second frac sleeve
leak. The measurements showed that none of the stimulations covered the entire openhole interval of each stage. Knowledge
of the ability to achieve effective stimulation coverage and the number interval isolation issues can help optimize this
completion type and aid in preventing the same issues on subsequent treatment wells in similar reservoir settings.

Stage 3 Warm-back Analysis.

The DTS data in Figure 6 also shows the temperature behavior immediately after the frac stage has been pumped. The
warmback information typically provides more information with respect to number and location of points of fluid entry into
the reservoir, indication of points of crossflow, and potentially which of the created fractures took most of the treatment
volume.
In Figure 8 multiple traces are presented that were captured over six-minute time intervals directly after the completion
of the fracture Stage 3, illustrating the thermal recovery. From the 1st (red) trace measured at 2:48 pm, it is relatively easy to
see that at least 40% of the near the wellbore Interval 3 (4126 to 4168 m) was not effectively stimulated. Also evident from
the warmback data is that fluid entered Interval 2. The portion of Interval 2 that was re-stimulated has a relatively consistent
warm-back rate. As the thermal restoration temperature started at a higher temperature (near 50°C) compared to the warm-
back of the stimulated portion of Interval 3 (which starts at 40°C), it is likely that little fluid actually entered Interval 2 during
the Stage 3 treatment. If a significant volume of fluid had entered the Interval 2 area, then the cooling should have been
similar to the section of Interval 3 that took significant fluid.
In the treatment Interval 3, the areas that display rapid thermal recovery indicate a point of crossflow re-entry. One such
point (at 4090 m) of crossflow fluid re-entry is illustrated in Figure 8. At this point, fracturing fluid had entered the reservoir
based on the low temperature seen on the first red trace immediately after pump shutdown when the temperature was
approximately 40°C. Because this fluid had been exposed to reservoir temperatures, it was warmer than the fluid that
remained in the wellbore. It only took six minutes for this fluid-entry point to warm back to 56°C. This rapid thermal
recovery was the result of fluid moving from the created fracture back into the wellbore. The driving force for this fluid
movement out of the created fractures and back toward the wellbore is typically considered to be stress related or, more
likely, leak off related. The created fractures with the slowest leak off will return toward closure pressure at a slightly slower
rate than fractures with higher leak-off. This creates short-term localized pressure differentials across the openhole section
and intra-stage fluid crossflow immediately after pump shutdown. The temperature profile changes show the direction of the
crossflow and fluid is seen moving toward the uphole Interval 3 packer (from 4090 to 4060 m).
6 SPE 164030

The DAS and DTS injection data and the thermal restoration data suggest that most of the Stage 3 treatment fluid affected
only 60% of the interval and specifically the area near the packer isolating Intervals 3 and 4. An important conclusion derived
from the warm-back data is the lack of fracture complexity (number of fractures) generated in this interval. Based on the
crossflow analysis, only two fractures appear to have been created.

Figure 8: DTS warm-back traces after Stage 3 stimulation (Holley 2012)

DAS and DTS analysis on all stages in this well indicated two packers leaking and two frac sleeve leaks. The results also
suggested that the ability to create multiple points of entry seemed largely dependent on whether the interval remained
effectively isolated. More extensive work was done to tie the DTS data and specifically the warmback information with the
log information of the well. The thermal-recovery response in the openhole intervals after the fracture treatments identified
that the sandy portions of the openhole treatment interval likely received the largest volume of treatment fluid, while the
portion of the openhole intervals with higher shale volumes seemed to receive less treatment volume (Holley, 2012). Using
this information, the most dominant fractures created within an individual interval were identified and could be used for more
representative dynamic reservoir-performance modeling in the future.

FIELD CASE II: MULTI-STAGE CEMENTED LINER COMPLETION

The field case discussed in this section is a cased and cemented horizontal well in a low permeability over-pressured
sand/siltstone reservoir, completed with isolated hydraulic fracturing stages using a “plug & perf” completion method.
A “plug & perf” completion starts at the toe of the well, or deepest section of the well, and includes setting a (flow-
through) frac plug with wireline in the liner and perforating the isolated zone immediately above it. The perforating process is
repeated for the number of perforation clusters desired and using a desired fracture spacing. The section is then hydraulically
stimulated. After a frac stage was completed, the wellbore was flushed to clear the wellbore of any residual proppant before
the next plug-and-gun assembly is pumped down to treat the next stage. The entire process is repeated in succession on
multiple sections for the number of stages desired along the horizontal, working toward the heel, or shallowest section, of the
well.
One challenge with the “plug & perf” completion method is determining the optimum the number of perforation clusters
and the fracture spacing within that stage, while achieving a uniform distribution of fracturing fluid and proppant into all the
perforation clusters. This determines the total number of frac stages (and cost) that is required to complete the well. To better
understand the ability to create uniform distribution of fluid and proppant and to optimize diversion techniques in this
completion type, a Fiber Optic (FO) cable was clamped along the outside of the production casing and monitored in real-time
during the hydraulic fracture treatment.

‘Plug and Perf’ and Flow-through Frac Plug Isolation

The DAS data in Figure 9 shows an example of a bridge plug being set followed by three perforating shots. The recorded
energy, displayed in color, is plotted in depth as a function of time The ‘warmer’ the color, the higher the acoustic energy.
The plug and perforating gun assembly can be seen running in the hole (RIH) via wireline from the surface. In the horizontal
section, the assembly is pumped to the predetermined target depth. The plug is set and released, creating pressure pulses to
surface (Molenaar, 2011). The guns are then pulled back and fired to establish communication to the formation. Similar to the
bridge plug being set, each perforation shot creates the acoustic signatures and reverberation along the length of the well
which can clearly be observed on the DAS data. The gun can also be seen being pulled back up the well-bore.
SPE 164030 7

Figure 9: Example of a bridge plug being set of perforation shots fired in a Figure 10: Example of a Flow-through Plug
Horizontal Well. The ‘warmer’ the color, the higher the acoustic energy. Isolation Failure

In this field case, the frac plugs used are flow-through plugs. For a flow-through frac plug, the inner diameter of the tool is
open, allowing wireline operations to continue above the plug. To start the next frac stage, a ball is dropped from the surface
and pumped down until it seats on the frac plug. Once the ball is seated, it isolates the downstream part of the wellbore and
stops frac fluid from entering the previous stage. By pressuring-up against the plug fracture breakdown of the next treatment
stage can be started. The top picture in Figure 10 shows an example of a ball being pumped down and seating, creating the
pressure seal as the next frac stage is started. Because the downstream part of the wellbore is isolated, there is no acoustic
activity (nor cooling) at the perforations below the plug. The bottom picture shows an example of a frac plug failure. There
are continuous acoustics observed below the plug indicating there is no isolation between the current and previous frac stage.

Hydraulic Fracture Stimulation (HFS) Diagnostic Using DAS and DTS.

The frac stage presented in Figure 11 was completed with four perforated intervals at 50 meter spacing. For the treatment of
the multiple perforation clusters, a “limited entry” design is used to try to achieve a uniform distribution of the fracturing
fluids and proppant into all sets of perforations. The interval was completed using slickwater with low proppant
concentrations. During the hydraulic fracturing treatment, the proppant concentration was ramped up to 300 kg/m3 at a flow
rate up to 7 m3/min. A total of ~815 m3 of fluid and ~125 tonne of proppant were pumped.
In the top graph of Figure 11, the amplitude of the DAS signal is displayed along 150 m of wellbore throughout the 3-
hour stimulation job. The colors represent acoustic energy levels (red is high, blue is low) across a high frequency range. The
higher amplitudes of the “noise” clearly show which perf clusters are taking fluid. Initial fracturing was started around 15:30
and the acoustic signatures suggest that the dominant injection rates are at Perfs 5-4 and 5-3, while Perfs 5-1 and 5-2 remain
significantly quieter. The lack of acoustic activity below the plug on the DAS confirms proper plug isolation was achieved
for this stage.

Figure 11: In the top, the processed DAS measurements are presented; the middle is a color map representation of the DTS data;
the lower graph indicates the surface treating pressure (blue), slurry rate (black) and proppant concentrations (green).
8 SPE 164030

During acid injection (15:37–15:45), almost all acoustic energy was seen at Perfs 5-3 and 5-4, with Perf 5-3 appearing
slightly more dominant. When the fracture stimulation starts at 15:50, the acoustic signatures of Perf 5-3 and 5-4 are most
dominant, while Perfs 5-1 and 5-2 show only weak acoustic activity. The pump rate was increased for the proppant stage at
16:00 to ~6.3 m3/min with surface pressure to 50 MPa. As the pump rate increases, Perfs 5-3 and 5-4 show higher acoustic
activity, with Perf 5-2 showing a moderately increase in activity. Sand reached the perforations around 16:10 and acoustic
activity was reduced significantly on Perfs 5-1 and 5-2 indicating reduced injection followed by increasing the surface
pressure to 55 MPa. As the flow rate was decreased to ~5 m3/min, Perf 5-3 and 5-4 acoustic signatures stabilized, while
acoustic energy at Perf 5-2 declined. With the reduction in flow rate also, the acoustic energy signature at Perf 5-1 disappears
almost completely, indicating this frac cluster is most screened-out.
The middle graph of Figure 11 provides the results of the recorded DTS data. In the figure, cooling can be observed (blue
colors) at various locations during the hydraulic fracture treatment. Cooling is seen at locations where a fracture is initiated
because cold fluid is injected and immediately exposed to the DTS cable. Cooling is typically also seen where the fiber optic
cable is clamped to the casing as there is good thermal coupling at these locations. This creates what appears to be a “noisy”
or “spikey” DTS profile along the wellbore during fracture stimulation and therefore the true injection points during pumping
can be obscured by these spikes.
When the fracture stimulation starts (15:50), the DTS shows an immediate cooling at Perf 5-4 and Perf 5-3 and a
somewhat delayed cooling response at Perfs 5-1 and 5-2, suggesting all four zones are open for injection which is in
agreement with the DAS measurements. To understand qualitatively the injected fluid distribution for the “limited entry”
design using DTS, a post-job measurement and analyses of the formation warm back is required. During the treatment, some
warmback is already observed at Perfs 5-1, which confirms the DAS observations that no more fluid and proppant is being
injected after 16:10 because this toe-side frac cluster has screened-out.
The DAS measurements as presented in Figure 11 contain the dynamic changes of the ‘noise’ levels throughout the
hydraulic fracturing treatment. Using a proprietary workflow, the injection rates per perf cluster can be derived from the
amplitude of the ‘noise’ levels measured using DAS. Figure 12 depicts the interpreted proppant distribution placed in each
perf cluster based on the acoustic signal measure throughout the treatment. In this example, the frac stage shows that the two
heel clusters are the dominant fracs, while the toe clusters (Perf Clusters 5.1 and 5.2) are only negligibly stimulated. This
quantification of the fluid and proppant placement demonstrates how effective this frac stage was in stimulating the target
rock around the wellbore. Because this fracture stage resulted in a non-uniform distribution of fluid and proppant placement,
this may impact the inflow performance and the recovery from this stage.

Integrated HFS Diagnostic: Putting DAS and Micro-Seismic Together

For the field case described in the previous section, micro-seismic data was collected in conjunction with DTS/DAS data (see
Figure 13). In the micro-seismic data, planar fracs are observed from the different perforation clusters (about 600 m
hydraulic frac length). The non-uniformity of the micro-seismic activity from the different perforation clusters seems to
correspond with the non-uniformity of the fluid and proppant distribution measured using DAS. Combining the DAS and
micro-seismic data enables a more detailed interpretation of the fracture development; the fractures can be interpreted at a
perforation level, and the potential interaction between the perforations can be resolved.

Figure 12: DAS calculated Proppant Placement per Figure 13: Micro-Seismic data showing planar fractures
perforation cluster created from the perforations
SPE 164030 9

In this example, the DAS and micro-seismic data both indicate that an even distribution of the fluid using limited entry
hydraulic fracturing stimulation design is in practice not guaranteed. This non-uniform stimulation of the planned fractures
can have a negative impact on well performance and may also impact well spacing and recovery. In this case, there is no
associated production data available for further analysis, but the ability to better redirect fluid and proppant distribution could
be a critical part of optimizing mutli-cluster stimulation performance moving forward.
Installing fiber optic cables in key wells, early in a field’s life or when entering a new geological/geo-mechanical situation,
can accelerate learnings about creating ‘good’ diversion and allow for a more rapid optimization of future wells in the same
area.

Future Applications of DAS

In this paper, the potential of DAS is illustrated with examples from real-time monitoring of in-well activities during
hydraulic fracturing operations. However, DAS is a technology with a broad spectrum of envisaged downhole applications
including distributed flow measurement, sand detection, gas breakthrough, artificial lift optimization, smart well completion
monitoring, and more.
It also holds promise for geophysical surveillance since a permanently installed down-hole fiber is ideal for non-intrusive
time-lapse geophysical monitoring. Once the system is installed, no further well intervention is required and repeat surveys
only require additional seismic source efforts (Mestayer, 2011).

Discussion and Conclusion

Two case studies were presented showing how the concurrent use of DTS and DAS can be used to better assess the efficiency
of openhole multi-stage and limited entry designed hydraulic fracture stimulations. The data was also monitored in real-time
and demonstrated to be useful in improving the fracture stimulation execution.
For the openhole multi-stage completion, an example was presented where both the DTS and DAS indicated the
stimulation did not cover the entire interval and the interval was not optimally fractured. In this case, the frac sleeve did not
function properly and fluid and proppant moved between intervals. The DAS measurements revealed the dynamic changes
that occur throughout the hydraulic fracturing treatment exceptionally well. Also, the broad frequency content enables
visualization of the injection distribution that occurs at different flow rates.
For the cased and cemented completion, DAS enables much better discrimination between perforation clusters which are
activated by the acid spearhead, and those which are taking most of the fluid and proppant throughout the main job. This type
of information is essential for optimizing the volume placement design and to improve future treatments.
DAS information combined with DTS has been demonstrated to enhance treatment diagnostics which should lead to
improvements in design and execution of in-well activities, hydraulic fracturing treatments and fluid placement.
Understanding where the most dominant fractures are being created within an individual interval could also be used for more
representative dynamic reservoir-performance modeling in the future.

Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Shell for the permission to publish this paper. The work presented here is the effort of a large
number of staff and we would like to thank the members of the venture and field study teams, drilling teams, completion
teams and surveillance teams for their contributions and support to the project. Additional thanks are extended to S. James
and V. Kiel for their review of this paper.
The authors extend their thanks to the members of the OptaSense Team for their efforts in acquiring, processing and
visualizing the data used for this study.
Special thanks to M. Minchau, B. Oz, W. Westwood, S. Labonte, S. O’Brien, P. Webster, R. Tummers, J. Wall, Y. Wu,
R. Lupton, G. Solano, C. Nieto and S. Hirshblond, for all their work over the last 3 years to help develop and deploy the
downhole DAS application for hydraulic fracture stimulation monitoring.

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10 SPE 164030

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