Zipper Manifold
When completing a single well, a significant amount of idle time is imposed on these costly resources. Time spent waiting for an isolation plug to be set, to position and fire perforator guns in the next zone, to retract the wireline and the perforator gun carriers, and to isolate the lubricator from the well—all of these operations contribute to a costly underutilization of the frac crew and equipment. A frac manifold is an arrangement of flow fittings and valves installed downstream of the frac pump output header (often called the “missile”) and upstream of each frac tree being served by it. From the main supply line of the frac manifold, a dedicated frac supply line is installed to the goat head atop each well. Utilizing this arrangement, the manifold is used to quickly isolate wells that have completed a frac cycle and for which intervention (plug and perforate) is now required, and to redirect the flow of frac fluid to a well that is prepared for the next frac cycle. The use of actuated valves improves transition speed and eliminates the need for manual adjustment, reducing safety risk.The use of a frac manifold in this manner is called “zipper” or “zip” fracturing, and it can provide for almost continuous utilization of the frac crew and equipment, from the first treatment at the toe of the first well to the last treatment at the heel of the last well. This represents a substantial improvement to the effective use of the fracturing resources and, thus, to the overall economics of the well.
