ABU DHABI, November 8, 2016—Schlumberger introduced today at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference AvantGuard* advanced flowback services. These services protect the connection of the hydraulic fracture to the wellbore to optimize productivity in conventional and unconventional wells.

AvantGuard services comprise flowback design and proactive fracture protection that complement fracturing operations. Damage to the well and the formation is actively prevented by tailoring a predictive flowback design strategy with a defined secure operating envelope. Application of the flowback design during the transition to production protects and stabilizes hydraulic fractures to efficiently enable all the clusters in each zone to produce without productivity impairment.

“Optimizing the poststimulation flowback of hydraulically fractured wells is a significant challenge for our industry,” said Wallace Pescarini, president, Testing Services, Schlumberger. “Protecting the investment made in a complex multistage stimulation operation is a must in today’s cost-constrained environment, and AvantGuard services provide the integrated flowback solution that delivers productivity and recovery.” 

Modeling is conducted in the Flowback Advisor design model built on Mangrove* engineered stimulation design. The AvantGuard model is adapted to the well’s specific geological, geochemical and geomechanical environment. The resulting flow is continuously monitored using Vx* multiphase well testing technology to accurately capture the rapid transient changes of produced fluids and sand content during early flow in the life of the well. This level of control begins during coiled tubing millout as the dynamic fluid and solids rate information is transmitted in real time to the coiled tubing unit to guide managing injection, return rate and pressure and optimize the balance condition.

In more than 50 operations conducted to date in unconventional plays including the Eagle Ford, Haynesville, Permian and Bakken Shales, AvantGuard services guided active control of coiled tubing injection parameters and the wellhead choke has kept wells in the defined secure operating envelope to protect fracture connectivity and productivity.

For more information about AvantGuard advanced flowback services, visit www.slb.com/AvantGuard.

About Schlumberger

Schlumberger is the world's leading provider of technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing to the oil and gas industry. Working in more than 85 countries and employing approximately 100,000 people who represent over 140 nationalities, Schlumberger supplies the industry's most comprehensive range of products and services, from exploration through production, and integrated pore-to-pipeline solutions that optimize hydrocarbon recovery to deliver reservoir performance.

Schlumberger Limited has principal offices in Paris, Houston, London and The Hague, and reported revenues of $35.47 billion in 2015. For more information, visit www.slb.com.

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*Mark of Schlumberger

For further information, contact:

Susan Ganz
Public Relations Manager–Western Hemisphere
Schlumberger
Tel:+1 713-939-2997
sganz1@slb.com