Maurer Engineering Inc. (MEI) said Aug. 27 it's seeking investors, service companies, licensees, and operators interested in utilizing the company's patent pending new stimulation system technology in shale wells.

Maurer said it's developing a shale stimulation technique that consists of drilling drainholes across hydraulic fractures to improve production in depleted shale wells. The Austin, Texas-based company estimates that its cost will be 70% less than refracking.

The new stimulation system consists of drilling three inch to four and three-quarter inch diameter drainholes from the horizontal well to bypass the constriction zones and provide large passageways from the fracks to the horizontal wells.

The drainholes are relatively inexpensive since they are drilled with small rigs and they are completed openhole or with slotted liners, the company said.

If necessary the drainholes can be fracked using conventional straddle packers and the drain holes can be sidetracked to cross the fracks in different places, providing a lot of flexibility to the system.

The oil and gas production from fracked shale wells deplete by up to 70% in the first two years, requiring refracking every two or three years at a cost of $2 million or more. This high cost significantly decreases the economics of shale wells and causes some of these wells to be abandoned after only 20-30% of the oil in place has been produced.

A lower cost stimulation system is needed that eliminates the need to refrack the wells so often, according to Maurer.

The rapid depletion occurs primarily due to a 10 to 15 foot constriction zone produced at the frack/horizontal well interface during the fracking process. As the wells are produced, small solid particles produced from crushed proppants and crushed formations propagate down the frack and into the constriction zone further plugging the fracks.