A new method for assessing stage-based hydraulic fracturing quality in Wolfcamp formation of Permian Basin

Zeng, Zhengwen; Harouaka, Abdallah

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2020.107740

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…In the real world, the tight oil formation rocks, such as those in Wolfcamp formation, Permian Basin, USA are most likely to be under the confining pressure of the intermediate range [5]. From these tests and the range of confining pressures studied, brittle fracturing in the breakdown stage may not guarantee the creation of conductive fractures.…”

Section: Juniper Online Journal Materials Science Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although many efforts have been made to find the brittle sections of rock formations using a variety of brittleness index definitions [18], initiating a brittle fracture is still not guaranteed. In fact, some of the unsuccessful HF stimulation jobs are attributed to the lack of brittle fractures [5], each of which could cost several million US dollars (USD). The objective of this paper is to introduce a new testing method capable of simultaneously measuring both fracture brittleness and conductivity.…”

Section: Hydraulic Fracturing Treatment Includes Two Major Stepsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These progresses were also achieved through a judicious funding partnership by public and private sectors leading researchers in the industry, national labs and universities to the results everyone knows: The US has huge volumes of oil and natural gas in unconventional formations [2,3]. With new completion techniques, combining horizontal drilling with multistage hydraulic fracturing (HDHF), these unconventional oil and gas resources can be technically and commercially produced [4,5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Method for Simultaneously Testing Fracture Brittleness and Conductivity

Zeng¹

2021

JOJMS

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Multistage hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells is the prevailing technology for developing unconventional hydrocarbon reserves like the Wolfcamp tight formation in the Permian Basin, USA. Hydraulic fracturing treatment assumes the stimulation will create brittle and conductive fractures in all clusters of each stage. The stimulation outcome with respect to fracture brittleness and the scope of fracture conductivity should be determined experimentally and simultaneously. To our knowledge, existing technologies test fracture brittleness and fracture conductivity separately. This paper introduces a new method that measures fracture brittleness and fracture conductivity simultaneously. Testing results on Testing results on Indianan limestone show that: (1) Confining pressure is a dominant factor in controlling whether the rock fractures in brittle mode or fails in ductile mode. (2) If the rock fractures in a brittle mode, the rock matrix permeability, and subsequently the fracture conductivity increases rapidly during and post fracturing/failing process. (3) If the rock fails in a ductile mode, matrix permeability decreases monotonically before, during and post the fracturing process. (4) Transitional behaviors have been observed when the rock fails between semi-brittle and semiductile modes under an intermediate range of confining pressures. The latter corresponds to reservoir conditions in most of the real world cases.(5) The new testing has shown it can provide means to increase the possibility of creating brittle and conductive fractures.

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Section: Juniper Online Journal Materials Science Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hydraulic Fracturing Treatment Includes Two Major Stepsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Method for Simultaneously Testing Fracture Brittleness and Conductivity

Zeng¹

2021

JOJMS

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Petrographic, mineralogical, morphological and organic constraints of the Permian shaly-coal in the Tuli Basin of Limpopo-Area Karoo-Aged basin, South Africa: Implication for potential gas generation

Akintola¹,

Amponsah-Dacosta²,

Rupprecht³

et al. 2023

Heliyon

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Frac-n-Flow Testing to Screen Brittle Fracture Stages in Wolfcamp Formation, Permian Basin, USA

Zeng

2021

Energies

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A new technique, fracturing-and-flowing (frac-n-flow) testing, is introduced for horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing (HDMHF) practitioners to check if the next stage would be a brittle fracture using the instantaneous shut-in pressure (ISIP) from the current stage. It was developed to reduce the number of not-flowing clusters in HDMHF treatments due to stress shadows in the development of tight oil reserves in Wolfcamp, Permian Basin, USA, and other similar fields. Preliminary frac-n-flow testing results show that a medium (200–1000 psi) increase in confining pressure under representative field in-situ stresses can transfer Indiana limestone from brittle fracturing to semi-ductile failing. Consequently, folds of increase (FOI) of matrix permeability vary from +13 (i.e., increase by 1300%) to −0.39 (i.e., decrease by 39%). Limestone is one of the major lithological components in Wolfcamp formation. Field ISIP data of two HDMHF wells in Wolfcamp formation show that the maximum stress shadows are +1297 psi and +1716 psi, respectively. These stress shadows might have transferred the fracturing process from brittle to semi-ductile, converting the corresponding stages from being stimulated and conductive (fracturing-n-flowing) to being damaged and not-flowing (failing-n-not-flowing). Field completion reports of the two wells confirmed that screen-out and other interruptions of operation occurred in these high stress shadowed stages.

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A new method for assessing stage-based hydraulic fracturing quality in Wolfcamp formation of Permian Basin

Cited by 3 publications

References 20 publications

A New Method for Simultaneously Testing Fracture Brittleness and Conductivity

A New Method for Simultaneously Testing Fracture Brittleness and Conductivity

Petrographic, mineralogical, morphological and organic constraints of the Permian shaly-coal in the Tuli Basin of Limpopo-Area Karoo-Aged basin, South Africa: Implication for potential gas generation

Frac-n-Flow Testing to Screen Brittle Fracture Stages in Wolfcamp Formation, Permian Basin, USA

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