What to Expect from COP fracI reviewed the frac program for the COP well and it is
NOT designed to get the best rate out of the Canol. The lateral is short at about 4,000 feet. The frac is being done open hole and the frac spacing is 300 to 500 feet. A more typical lateral lenght is 6,500 feet and the highest productivity fracs are being done with a cemented liner and with frac spacings as low as 75 feet. The difference between the two designs is very signficant with production being 2 to 3 times more with the cemented liner and closely spaced fractures.
Further, the Canol is so thick that it actually requires two laterals to drain it. However, at this stage we could not expect that.
The question is why would COP do this? I am speculating here, but this is what I think. It is not because COP doesn't know any better . They and EOG are two of the best operators in the Eagle Ford. Rather I think it is because these wells are a "science experiement" in which they have placed microseismic equipment down a vertical well close by. (drilled last year). They want to find out all the engineering paramaters required to design the best frac. A small frac that is widely spaced is easier to monitor and assess because there is not communication between the facture planes.
A good example of frac using the latest technology was one done by Shell and Trilogy in the Duvernay. You can read about with the link below. Each well on the 4 well pad did 3.4 MMcfd and produced about 2,000 barrels of condensate per day. These wells had 100 stages while the COP well will have 10 stages.
Bottom line is that COP well results will dramatically underestimate the productive capacity of the Canol. The industry will know how to interpret this but the stock market will not. This could be a similar story to the market's disappointment in the MGM I-78 well.
https://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Duvernay+well+results+pump+Trilogy+Energy+stock/8968255/story.html