CLB 2018 Annual Report

4 providing analytical data sets to operators to help them optimize their reservoirs. Core Lab plans to follow the Eagle Ford EOR JIP and Permian Basin EOR JIP with similar JIPs in other applicable unconventional reservoirs in North and South America. Apart from unconventional settings, several conventional reservoir studies are currently being conducted for the deep water Gulf of Mexico and several different plays around the offshore Atlantic margins of South America and Canada. Onshore, we have also conducted dozens of conventional reservoir studies on every continent except Antarctica. Production Enhancement We provide diagnostic services and products to help optimize completion and reservoir operations and field development strategies in order to increase recoverable reserves in the most efficient way. Two production enhancement methods commonly used are (i) hydraulic fracturing of the reservoir rock to improve flow and (ii) flooding a reservoir with water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen or hydrocarbon gases to force more oil and gas to the wellbore. Many oilfields today are hydraulically fractured and/or flooded to maximize oil and gas recovery. Although Core Lab is not a hydraulic fracturing company, we do provide services that are used by others to develop and optimize hydraulic fracturing and field flood projects and to evaluate the success of those projects. Our services, technologies and expertise play a key role in the success of both methods. The hydraulic fracturing of a producing formation is achieved by pumping a fluid slurry containing a proppant material into the reservoir zone at extremely high pressures. This fractures the rock and the proppant material "props" or holds the fractures open after the pressure pumping is complete so that reservoir fluids can flow to the production wellbore. Our data on rock type and strength are critical for determining the proper design of the hydraulic fracturing job. In addition, our testing indicates whether the fluid slurry is compatible with the reservoir rock so that damage does not occur that would restrict production. We also provide testing of various propping agents and software to help pick the best proppant based on net present value calculations of client investments. Our proprietary and patented ZERO WASH ® tracer technology is used to determine cluster efficiency and ensure maximum stimulated reservoir volume and increased ultimate recovery. SPECTRACHEM ® is another proprietary and patented technology developed for optimizing hydraulic fracture performance. SPECTRACHEM ® is used to aid operators in determining the efficiency of the fracture fluids used. SPECTRACHEM ® tracers allow operators to evaluate the quantity of fracture fluid that returns to the wellbore during the clean-up period after a hydraulic fracturing event. This technology also allows our clients to evaluate load recovery, gas breakthrough, fluid leak-off and breaker efficiency, all of which are important factors for optimizing oil and/or natural gas production after the formation is hydraulically fractured. The SPECTRACHEM ® service is effective in determining the effectiveness and efficiency of the hydraulic fracture stimulation of long multi-stage horizontal wells in oil- and gas-shale plays throughout North America and with growing demand internationally as unconventional resource plays are developed globally. SPECTRACHEM ® data sets are used to determine how each frac stage is flowing. Frac stages with ineffective flows may warrant further stimulation, remedial actions and guide improvements on future frac designs. Our unique completion monitoring system, COMPLETION PROFILER™, helps to determine flow rates from reservoir zones after they have been hydraulically fractured. This provides our clients with a baseline of early production information and can be compared to subsequent production logs later in the life of the well to see how hydrocarbon production from different reservoir layers or different quality rock varies over time. Our FLOWPROFILER TM service, a proprietary hydrocarbon-based tracer technology, which is a further development of our patented SPECTRACHEM ® technology quantifies the hydrocarbon production from discrete segments in multi-stage horizontal well completions and stimulations in unconventional tight-oil or gas plays. We have tracers used for oil reservoirs which are different from our tracers used for gas reservoirs. FLOWPROFILER TM technology and the analytical methodology for identifying the hydrocarbon-soluble tracers are the protected intellectual property of Core Lab. FLOWPROFILER TM technology employs a unique hydrocarbon-soluble tracer and water-soluble tracer introduced into specific and isolated stages via the stimulating proppant stream. The hydrocarbon-soluble tracers are absorbed by the crude oil and gas associated with each stage while the water-soluble tracer remains in the stimulation fluid. When the well is flowed, oil, gas and water samples are collected and analyzed in the laboratory to identify and quantify oil or gas flows from each stage and the cleanup of the stimulation fluid. Stages not at optimum flow rates can be identified, precipitating remedial efforts to increase flow and recovery rates, and to provide valuable insight for future wells. This service is being used to monitor offset well interference by sampling offset well oil, gas and water production. The amount of tracer detected in offset wells is being used to help our clients optimize both lateral and vertical well spacing and the amount of fracturing fluids for each stage.