The oil field services giant said it enabled sequential stimulation of perforation clusters in wells drilled in unconventional reservoirs.

"This new technique sequentially isolates fractures at the wellbore to ensure every cluster in each zone is fractured resulting in greater production and completion efficiency compared to conventional methods," Schlumberger said.

The composite fluid involved comprises a "proprietary blend of degradable fibres and multimodal particles".

Schlumberger said the technique was particularly suitable for refracturing operations due to "its ability to promote temporary cluster isolation without the aid of mechanical devices such as bridge plugs".

Notably, Schlumberger said the technique had enabled customers in South Texas to increase production from new completions in unconventional reservoirs by more than 20%.

"It has also reduced well completion time by up to 46% in plug-and-perf operations by stimulating longer intervals compared with conventional methods," Schlumberger said.

"In addition, this technology was applied to a well in South Texas for a refracturing operation, which resulted in double the production with a fourfold increase in flowing pressure."

Schlumberger well services president Amerino Gatti said the BroadBand Sequence technique addressed the significant industry challenge of optimising the stimulation of wellbore perforation clusters in unconventional reservoirs.