Monitoring Fracturing Fluid Flowback with Chemical Tracers: A Field Case Study

Asadi, Mahmoud; Woodroof, Robert W.; Malone, William Scott; Shaw, Donald R.

doi:10.2118/77750-ms

Cited by 26 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The water samples gathered from the F-4H and the surrounding offsets provided great insight into wellbore communication resulting from hydraulic fracture stimulation. 3,4,5 Figure 4 shows the WST analysis from the F-4H well. The diameter of each dot is proportional to the concentration of the WST reported in parts per million ("ppm") from spectrometric analysis.…”

Section: F-4h Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilizing Oil Soluble Tracers to Understand Stimulation Efficiency Along the Lateral

Goswick

LaRue²

2014

All Days

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Chemical water soluble tracers ("WSTs") have been routinely used in hydraulic fracture stimulations in attempts to verify and quantify load recovery from multi-stage stimulations. Load recovery is often interpolated with production data by assuming percent chemical recovered for a given stage directly correlates to that stage's production contribution. This assumption is often verified by a running production logging tools. New solid chemical oil soluble tracers ("OSTs") can now be utilized as a direct indicator of oil flow and production from deep in an individual stages' fracture. Qualitative analysis gives an early "yes" or "no" to oil flow from each stage, while quantitative analysis may be achieved using relative concentrations of OSTs recovered, and reservoir and flow assumed conditions. OSTs may be used in conjunction with water soluble chemical tracers, or as a stand-alone tracer to determine oil flow from individual stages. The purpose of this paper is to introduce utilizing solid particulate OSTs as a viable methodology to understand individual fracture stage oil contribution in horizontal wells. The results presented in this paper were derived from a three well pilot project performed in the Lower Marmaton formation in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma. An investigation of hydraulic fracture stimulation efficiency was undertaken to determine if individual stimulation stages landed in either 100%, or only a portion of the pay sand, were contributing to the well's oil production. If so, to what extent? The reservoir pay thickness, along with the presence of second sand, influenced wellbore placement in that the drill bit can weave between the sands and the bounding shale layers. Also investigated was the magnitude the stimulation job had on offset producing wells. This was done by collecting and analyzing offset well production for the newly injected WSTs and OSTs. Preliminary results indicate offset communication between certain wells did occur, and the zones experiencing communication appear to have reduced contribution in the subject well's production.

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Section: F-4h Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilizing Oil Soluble Tracers to Understand Stimulation Efficiency Along the Lateral

Goswick

LaRue²

2014

All Days

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“…Heavier species would be preferred for their ability to withstand sample preparation (e.g., digestion) would enable lower analysis detection limits, whereas lighter elements would be lost during this process. Non-reactivity and chemical stability must also be taken into account to ensure the lifetime of the species through the system (Asadi et al 2002). Conversely, transition metals may prove too "noble" for dissolution into the BFW or "exotic" for what is intended as a cost-effective and operationally simple method with readily obtainable material.…”

Section: Leak Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Novel Leak Detection Method for Sulfur Recovery Unit Condensers

Cheung

Scheck

Goodmurphy

2013

Oil and Gas Facilities

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At a Shell sour-gas processing facility in Alberta, Canada, hydrogen sulfide contained within the natural gas is converted into elemental sulfur by means of a sulfur recovery unit (SRU). Tube leaks present in a water-cooled SRU condenser can lead to a variety of process issues, including corrosion and the oxidative formation of acidic species. Leak indicators, such as loss of sulfur flow in the rundown and a frothy sulfur appearance, were observed. This work devised a novel method to verify such leaks within a SRU condenser. Using basic pump equipment and an inexpensive commodity chemical tracer, lithium hydroxide, a leak was diagnosed without the shutdown of the unit and with a minimal of expenditures and hazards to operators. The unit was inspected and the tube leak plugged, which enabled the resumption of normal operations.

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“…The basis for flowback fluid reuse is mainly based on the additives formulated for the performance of the fracturing fluid, and the differences in the performance of the additives can lead to significant differences in the water performance indicators required for the fluid. The instability of the fracturing fluid performance configured by flowback fluid reuse usually manifests as lower viscosity, higher drag reduction rate, and increased rock damage compared to clean water when the same proportion of modified polyacrylamide is added to the flowback fluid 20–24 . Currently, in tight gas fracturing, the Southwest Oil and Gas Field of PetroChina typically uses modified polyacrylamide as the main additive to configure variable viscosity slick water.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on the effect of tight gas fracturing flowback fluid composition on the performance of modified polyacrylamide viscosity reducing and slippery water system

Xiong,

Wang,

Liu

et al. 2023

J of Applied Polymer Sci

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Tight gas belongs to unconventional gas reservoirs, and to obtain high gas production, it needs to be fractured and reformed. After the construction is completed, a large amount of flowback fluid is produced. In order to reduce the cost of flowback fluid treatment and avoid environmental pollution, a slippery water system with flowback fluid is usually used on the site of hydraulic fracturing. Almost all flowback fluids contain high‐order cations such as calcium ions, magnesium ions, iron ions, and a large amount of suspended solids. Some flowback fluids contain incomplete gel‐breaking micelles and unseparated condensate oil. The performance of the viscosity‐reducing and slippery water system with flowback fluid as the base fluid is poor, usually manifested as low viscosity of the slippery water, low friction reduction rate, and high formation damage. To study the effect of tight gas fracturing flowback fluid on the performance of modified polyacrylamide viscosity‐reducing and slippery water system, this paper found through cryo‐electron microscopy scanning experiments that the flowback fluid made the modified polyacrylamide molecular chain unable to form a complex network structure and showed the phenomenon of reduced strength and aggregation. The effects of mineralization degree, calcium and magnesium ions, divalent and trivalent iron ions, suspended solids, pH value, and oil content on the viscosity, friction reduction performance, and rock damage of the viscosity‐reducing and slippery water system were analyzed experimentally. It was found that the viscosity of the viscosity‐reducing and slippery water system was mainly affected by divalent iron ions, calcium and magnesium ions and other divalent cations; the friction reduction rate was mainly affected by the content of suspended solids and oil content; and the rock damage was mainly affected by the pH value and the content of suspended solids. Based on this, recommended parameters for reusing tight gas fracturing flowback fluid are given to guide the smooth progress of hydraulic fracturing construction on‐site.

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Monitoring Fracturing Fluid Flowback with Chemical Tracers: A Field Case Study

Cited by 26 publications

References 14 publications

Utilizing Oil Soluble Tracers to Understand Stimulation Efficiency Along the Lateral

Utilizing Oil Soluble Tracers to Understand Stimulation Efficiency Along the Lateral

Novel Leak Detection Method for Sulfur Recovery Unit Condensers

Experimental study on the effect of tight gas fracturing flowback fluid composition on the performance of modified polyacrylamide viscosity reducing and slippery water system

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