CO{sub 2}/sand fracturing in Devonian shales

Yost, A.B.; Mazza, R.L.; Gehr, J.B.

doi:10.2172/10128343

Cited by 7 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…According to King [96], Arnold [11] and Campbell et al [34], only 25-50% of water-based fracturing fluid can be recovered and recovery takes extensive time (months or years). This issue can be minimized by using CO 2 -based fracking fluid, as the average clean-up time for CO 2 -based fracturing fluid is as short as several days [35,96]. In addition to its small molecular size, large compressibility, and high diffusion rate, the phase changes of CO 2 from super-critical/liquid to gas while it moves upward due to the reduction of pressure also significantly reduce the time required for residual CO 2 to move back to the surface.…”

Section: Minimization Of Issues Related To Residual Fluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of Clay-Abundant Shale Formations: Use of CO2 for Production Enhancement

et al. 2017

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Clay-abundant shale formations are quite common worldwide shale plays. This particular type of shale play has unique physico-chemical characteristics and therefore responds uniquely to the gas storage and production process. Clay minerals have huge surface areas due to prevailing laminated structures, and the deficiency in positive charges in the combination of tetrahedral and octahedral sheets in clay minerals produces strong cation exchange capacities (CECs), all of which factors create huge gas storage capacity in clay-abundant shale formations. However, the existence of large amounts of tiny clay particles separates the contacts between quartz particles, weakening the shale formation and enhancing its ductile properties. Furthermore, clay minerals' strong affinity for water causes clay-abundant shale formations to have large water contents and therefore reduced gas storage capacities. Clay-water interactions also create significant swelling in shale formations. All of these facts reduce the productivity of these formations. The critical influences of clay mineral-water interaction on the productivity of this particular type of shale plays indicates the inappropriateness of using traditional types of water-based fracturing fluids for production enhancement. Non-water-based fracturing fluids are therefore preferred, and CO 2 is preferable due to its many unique favourable characteristics, including its minor swelling effect, its ability to create long and narrow fractures at low breakdown pressures due to its ultralow viscosity, its contribution to the mitigation of the greenhouse gas effect, rapid clean-up and easy residual water removal capability. The aim of this paper is to obtain comprehensive knowledge of utilizing appropriate production enhancement techniques in clay-abundant shale formations based on a thorough literature review.

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Section: Minimization Of Issues Related To Residual Fluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of Clay-Abundant Shale Formations: Use of CO2 for Production Enhancement

et al. 2017

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“…In the early 1990s the United States DOE started to introduce liquid CO 2 fracturing into vertical Devonian shale wells in eastern Kentucky (Yost et al 1993). Two-stage stimulations with CO 2 /sand, GN 2 , and N 2 foam/sand were performed in four, seven, and four gas wells within a distance of 20 km, respectively (Yost et al 1994).…”

Section: Co 2 Fracturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Note that GN 2 treatments did not place sand proppants in fractures. A follow-up review updated the 5-year production data for the seven wells (11 stages) stimulated by CO 2 /sand, the nine wells (17 stages) by GN 2 , and the five wells (9 stages) by N 2 foam/sand (Mazza, 2001) from those previously reviewed by Yost et al (1993Yost et al ( , 1994. It demonstrated that the ratio of cumulative production per stage from CO 2 /sand stimulations to GN 2 and N 2 foam/sand stimulations had increased from 1.9 and 4.9 to 3.0 and 6.5 times over the 5-year period, respectively.…”

Section: Co 2 Fracturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waterless fracturing technologies for unconventional reservoirs-opportunities for liquid nitrogen

Wang

Yao

Cha

et al. 2016

Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

185

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During the past two decades, hydraulic fracturing has significantly improved oil and gas production from shale and tight sandstone reservoirs in the United States and elsewhere.Considering formation damage, water consumption, and environmental impacts associated with water-based fracturing fluids, efforts have been devoted to developing waterless fracturing technologies because of their potential to alleviate these issues. Herein, key theories and features of waterless fracturing technologies, including Oil-based and CO 2 energized oil fracturing, explosive and propellant fracturing, gelled LPG and alcohol fracturing, gas fracturing, CO 2 fracturing, and cryogenic fracturing, are reviewed. We then experimentally elaborate on the efficacy of liquid nitrogen in enhancing fracture initiation and propagation in concrete samples, and shale and sandstone reservoir rocks. In our laboratory study, cryogenic fractures generated were qualitatively and quantitatively characterized by pressure decay tests, acoustic measurements, gas fracturing, and CT scans. The capacity and applicability of cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen are demonstrated and examined. By properly formulating the technical procedures for field implementation, cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen could be an advantageous option for fracturing unconventional reservoirs.

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“…Several field operations in the Devonian shale reservoirs demonstrated that fracturing with low injection rates can open the NF pathways, whereas high injection rates create HFs [34,35]. Although low injection rates (2.4-3.2 m 3 /min) in shale reservoirs successfully opened NFs, they did not develop lasting gas rates, even with large fracturing volumes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Multiple Flow Pulses on Hydraulic Fracture Network Propagation in Naturally Fractured Volcanic Rock

et al. 2020

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Exploring engineering methods for increasing fracture network complexity is important for the development of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. In this study, we conducted a series of fracturing experiments on naturally fractured volcanic samples. An injection method, multiple flow pulses, is proposed to increase fracture complexity. The results show that fluid leaked into the natural fracture network (NFN) when the injection rate was low (0.2 mL/min); hydraulic-fracture-dominant fracture geometry was created with an injection rate of 2 and 5 mL/min. Under the 2 mL/min-injection scheme with 3 pulses, the injection pressure during the intermittent stage was low (<5 MPa), resulting in a limited increase in fracture complexity. When the number of the flow pulses increased to 5, the pressure drop rate in the fourth and fifth intermittent stage significantly increased, indicating an increase in the aperture of natural fractures (NFs) and in the fluid leak-off effect. Under the 5 mL/min injection scheme containing 5 pulses, besides the enhanced fluid leak-off, a sharp injection pressure drop was observed, indicating the activation of NFs. The complexity and the aperture of the ultimate fracture network further increased. The injection method, multiple flow pulses, can be used to create complex fracture networks effectively.

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CO{sub 2}/sand fracturing in Devonian shales

Abstract: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the _ .

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Characteristics of Clay-Abundant Shale Formations: Use of CO2 for Production Enhancement

Characteristics of Clay-Abundant Shale Formations: Use of CO2 for Production Enhancement

Waterless fracturing technologies for unconventional reservoirs-opportunities for liquid nitrogen

Effect of Multiple Flow Pulses on Hydraulic Fracture Network Propagation in Naturally Fractured Volcanic Rock

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