Hydraulic fracturing has been used by the oil and gas industry as a way to boost hydrocarbon production since 1947. Recent advances in fracturing technologies, such as multistage fracturing in horizontal wells, are responsible for the latest hydrocarbon production boom in the US. Linear or crosslinked guars are the most commonly used fluids in traditional fracturing operations. The main functions of these fluids are to open/propagate the fractures and transport proppants into the fractures. Proppants are usually applied to form a thin layer between fracture faces to prop the fractures open at the end of the fracturing process. Chemical breakers are used to break the polymers at the end of the fracturing process so as to provide highly conductive fractures. Concerns over fracture conductivity damage by viscous fluids in ultra-tight formations found in unconventional reservoirs prompted the industry to develop an alternative fracturing fluid called "slickwater". It consists mainly of water with a very low concentration of linear polymer. The low concentration polymer serves primarily to reduce the friction loss along the flow lines. Proppant-carrying capability of this type of fluids is still a subject of debate among industry experts. Constraints on local water availability and the potential for damage to formations have led the industry to develop other types of fracturing fluids such as viscoelastic surfactants and energized fluids. This article reviews both the traditional viscous fluids used in conventional hydraulic fracturing operations as well as the new family of fluids being developed for both traditional and unconventional reservoirs.

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Summary Low-salinity waterflooding in limestone formations has been less explored and hence less understood in enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) literature. The mechanisms leading to improved recovery have been mostly attributed to wettability alteration, with less attention given to fluid/fluid-interaction mechanisms. In this work, we present a thorough investigation of the formation of water-in-oil microdispersions generated when low-salinity brine encounters crude oil and the suppressed snap-off effect caused by the presence of sulfate content in seawater-equivalent-salinity brines as recovery mechanisms in limestone rocks. We believe this is a mechanism that leads to the improved oil recovery experienced with low-salinity waterflooding and seawaterflooding in carbonate formations. This novel interpretation was studied by integrating petrographic and spectroscopic observations, dynamic interfacial-tension (IFT) measurements, thermogravimetrical analyses, and coreflooding techniques. Our data show that low-salinity brine caused a greater change in the crude-oil composition compared with seawater brine and formation-water brine. Formation-water brine created nearly no changes to the crude-oil composition, indicating its limited effect on the crude oil. These compositional changes in crude oil, caused by the low-salinity brine, were attributed to the formation of water-in-oil microdispersions within the crude-oil phase. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy data also showed that at brine-concentration levels greater than 8,200 ppm, this phenomenon was not experienced. Oil-production data for nonaged limestone cores showed an improved recovery of approximately 5 and 3% for seawater and low-salinity brines, respectively. Although the wettability-alteration effect was minimized by the use of nonaged cores, improved oil recovery was still evident. This was interpreted to represent the formation of water-in-oil microdispersions when low-salinity water (LSW) of 8,200-ppm salinity and less was used. The formation of the microdispersions is believed to increase the sweep efficiency of the waterflood by swelling and therefore blocking the pore throats, causing low-salinity-brine sweeping of the unswept pore spaces. Improved recovery by seawater brine was attributed to the changes in dynamic IFT measurement experienced using seawater brine as the continuous phase, compared with the use of LSW and formation-water-salinity (FWS) brine. This change caused a higher surface dilatational elasticity, which leads to a suppression of the snap-off effect in coreflooding experiments and hence causes improved oil recovery. Our studies conclude that the formation of microdispersions leads to improved oil recovery in low-salinity waterflooding of limestone rocks. Furthermore, the use of seawater as a displacing fluid succeeds in improving recovery because of its high surface elasticity suppressing the snap-off effect in the pore throat. We also present an easy and reliable mixing procedure representative of porous media, which could be used for screening brine and crude-oil samples for field application. Fluid/fluid interaction as well as high surface elasticity should be investigated as the causes of wettability alteration and improved recovery experienced by the use of LSW and seawater-salinity (SWS) brines interacting with limestone formations, respectively.

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Summary Shale gas is a major component of natural-gas supply in the United States. Multistage-fractured horizontal wells significantly improve the production performance of ultralow-permeability shale-gas reservoirs. Researchers have believed that shale-gas-production simulations should take into account the complex-flow behaviors in both fractures and the matrix. However, multiple physics applied on the matrix are generally incomplete in previous studies. In this study, we considered the comprehensive physics that occurred in the matrix including the effective stress, slip flow/pore diffusion, adsorption/desorption, and surface diffusion, as well as the dynamic properties of fractures. We investigated the importance of these features of the physics separately and in an integrated fashion by step-by-step production simulations. Afterward, comprehensive sensitivity analysis was performed with regard to stress dependency of the matrix and fractures. This work shows that natural-fracture spacing is the most prominent factor affecting shale-gas-reservoir performance. The work highlights the importance to gas recovery of mechanical squeezing of the pore volume by the effective stress. Surface diffusion might be essential for gas recovery that depends on surface-diffusivity values. Slip flow and pore diffusion do not significantly contribute to gas recovery even though they increase gas apparent permeability under low pressures.