Field Development Study: Channel Fracturing Increases Gas Production and Improves Polymer Recovery in Burgos Basin, Mexico North

Abstract

The channel fracturing technique combines fracture modeling, materials and pumping methods to generate a network of highly conductive channels within the proppant pack. These channels aim at expediting the delivery of hydrocarbons from the reservoir to the wellbore (Gillard et al., 2010). This paper provides a comprehensive summary of the implementation of this novel technique in the Burgos basin, Mexico North. The Eocene Yegua formation in the Palmito field near Reynosa, Mexico was selected for this study. This formation comprises sandstone layers with average permeability of 0.5 mD and Young’s modulus in the order of 2.5 Mpsi. Key historical issues for the stimulation of this formation using conventional fracturing materials are limited polymer recovery and the consequential fracture conductivity impairment. Use of resin-coated proppants has also been implemented to prevent proppant flowback from these operations. Gas production, treating pressure and polymer recovery data from a twelve-well campaign in the Palmito field (six wells treated via channel fracturing, six offset wells treated conventionally and aiming for similar fracture geometry) are summarized in the manuscript. Results indicate that the implementation of the channel fracturing technique improved fluid and polymer recovery, thus leading to increases in initial gas production by 32% and 6-month cumulative gas production by 19%. Such improvements in production were obtained with 50% less proppant per stage and smaller proppant particles. These observations are consistent with the hypothesis that the channel fracturing technique promotes the decoupling of fracture conductivity from proppant pack permeability. Positive features that were also observed during this campaign such as absence of proppant flowback issues without the use of resin-coated sand and non-occurrence of near-wellbore screen-outs are also reported and discussed. The study concluded that the channel fracturing technique is a viable alternative to conventional fracturing methods for the stimulation of wells in the Burgos basin.

On the Mechanisms of Channel Fracturing

“…Sadykov et al, 2012 For example, in the Loma La Lata field in Argentina (Gillard et al, 2010) fracture conductivities were found to be 1.5 to 2.5 orders of magnitude higher than the theoretical conventional fractures. In their study for the Burgos basin, Valenzuela et al (2012) mention that the observed increases in well productivity with the use of the channel fracturing technique were obtained with a smaller proppant mesh size (20/40 mesh) than that used in the conventional stimulation operations (16/30 mesh). This result is counterintuitive to conventional fracturing methods, which customarily rely on larger proppant mesh sizes to increase the average proppant pore dimensions, and therefore fracture conductivity and well production.…”

Modeling of Fracture Width and Conductivity in Channel Fracturing With Nonlinear Proppant-Pillar Deformation

“…In an application of channel fracturing in the desert of western Egypt, an 89% increase in initial production was observed (Gawad et al 2013). A production increase of 29% was reported after applying channel-fracturing stimulation in Taylakovskoe Field in Siberia (Valiullin et al 2015). Li et al (2015a) reported stimulation results for channel fracturing in tight oil and gas reservoirs in Ordos Basin, China; the production of oil wells increased by 1.4 times and gas-well production increased by three to five times.…”

Experimental and numerical investigations of proppant pack effect on fracture conductivity of channel fracturing

“…This technology provides high fracture conductivity (ie, 2‐3 orders larger than conventionally propped fractures) and low cost due to reduced material usage, thereby decreasing the flow resistance of hydrocarbons and increasing production 14 . According to statistics, by applying channel fracturing technology, the improvement of hydrocarbon production ranges from 19% to 98% 15‐19 …”

“…14 According to statistics, by applying channel fracturing technology, the improvement of hydrocarbon production ranges from 19% to 98%. [15][16][17][18][19] Multiple studies have been published on the conductivity of channel fractures; for example, Medvedev et al 20 concluded that the discontinuous distribution of proppant packs largely enhances the channel fracture conductivity and determines the optimal channel width. Additionally, Zheng et al 21 found that with the increase in the distribution density of proppant packs, the channel fracture conductivity increased at the beginning and then decreased rapidly, while Xu et al 22 proposed that fracture width, propped area, and proppant embedment were the key factors affecting channel fracture conductivity.…”