Pushing the Limit on Guar Loading: Treatment of a Green River Sandstone Formation by Use of a Novel Low-Polymer Crosslinked Fluid

Legemah, Magnus; Benedictis, Frances De; Workneh, Nigatu; Smith, David D.; Le, Hoang V.; Sun, Hong; Qu, Qi; Moulton, Mickey

doi:10.2118/168186-pa

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Alternatively, the higher polymer concentration produces much more insoluble residues after gel breaking, which damages the formation and proppant-pack and induces a low oil productivity. Furthermore, high dosage of CMHPG is costly and attributed to the extravagant price of guar gum in recent years. , In view of the above considerations, the optimum CMHPG concentration of this new fracturing fluid system should be a range from 0.25 to 0.35% (about 20 to 30 pptg).…”

Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Laboratory Evaluation of a Low pH and Low Polymer Concentration Zirconium-CMHPG Gel System for Hydraulic Fracturing

Zhang¹,

Zhang²,

et al. 2019

Energy Fuels

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Low pH fracturing fluids, such as the transition metal cross-linked guar derivative, can reduce the formation damage caused by clay swelling and fines migration in hydraulic fracturing treatments. However, a major disadvantage of the fluids is the uncontrollable rapid viscosity development, especially cross-linking under a pH below 3.0. In this paper, a novel delayed organic zirconium cross-linker with lactate and ethylene glycol as ligands was designed to overcome the shortcoming. Carboxymethyl hydroxypropyl guar (CMHPG), which results in a low gel residue after breaking, was used as the polymer at low concentration. The impact of gelation parameters on the properties of zirconium-CMHPG gel system was systematically investigated using a Sydansk bottle-testing method combined with a controlled stress rheometer. Desirable gelation time delay with agreeable rheological performance could be obtained by optimizing the polymer and cross-linker concentrations even at a pH as low as 2.0. Uniformly and compactly generated 3D network microstructures could firmly lock the free water within the gel, which further improved the thermostability and acid-resistance of the system. Meanwhile, the structures could also maintain the viscoelasticity of the fluid at a high level to ensure the efficient transportation of the proppants. Proppant settling and gel breaking tests demonstrated that the low pH and low polymer concentration gel system generated fewer insoluble residues with an uncompromised suspension performance. Moreover, the formation damage evaluation revealed that the low pH fracturing fluid system produced a better return permeability than the high pH system.

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Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, high dosage of CMHPG is costly and attributed to the extravagant price of guar gum in recent years. 59,60 In view of the above considerations, the optimum CMHPG concentration of this new fracturing fluid system should be a range from 0.25 to 0.35% (about 20 to 30 pptg).…”

Section: Energy and Fuelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laboratory Evaluation of a Low pH and Low Polymer Concentration Zirconium-CMHPG Gel System for Hydraulic Fracturing

Zhang¹,

Zhang²,

et al. 2019

Energy Fuels

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“…On the contrary, the crosslinking degree is weakened by the enhanced spatial site resistance. 11 If the crosslinker size and crosslinking sites can be increased while reducing the effect caused by spatial site resistance, the crosslinking efficiency of the crosslinker will be notably improved to reduce the amount of guar gum. 12 Nanomaterials have special properties such as a large specific surface area and abundant active hydroxyl groups on the surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, increasing the crosslinker size and the number of crosslinker sites by infinitely expanding the crosslinker volume does not always increase the crosslinking degree. On the contrary, the crosslinking degree is weakened by the enhanced spatial site resistance . If the crosslinker size and crosslinking sites can be increased while reducing the effect caused by spatial site resistance, the crosslinking efficiency of the crosslinker will be notably improved to reduce the amount of guar gum …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis and Crosslinking Mechanism of Colloidal Graphene Oxide Crosslinker for Crosslinking Low-Concentration Hydroxypropyl Guar Gum Fracturing Fluids

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2022

Energy Fuels

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Guar gum fracturing fluid is widely used in hydraulic fracturing due to its excellent viscoelastic and proppant-carrying properties. With the increasing burial depth of oil and gas resources, strengthening the temperature and shear resistance of guar gum fracturing fluid is a significant engineering issue. Although graphene oxide is known to be effective in enhancing the structural strength of materials, few studies reported its ability to enhance guar gum fracturing fluid properties. To address this issue, herein, we prepared a boron-functionalized colloidal graphene oxide crosslinker (GOB) to enhance the temperature and shear resistance of guar gum fracturing fluid. Colloidal graphene oxide crosslinkers have a larger size and more crosslinking sites, reducing the amount of self and guar gum. Compared with organoboron crosslinkers under the same conditions, GOB can improve the temperature resistance of fracturing fluid by 8.9 °C and viscosity by 20−50 mPa•s. It was observed by vacuum freeze-drying combined with scanning electron microscopy that guar gum exists as irregular linear structures when dissolved in water. The addition of crosslinkers makes the irregular linear structures bind to each other and form a continuous membrane structure. Meanwhile, the distribution of graphene oxide crosslinker on the surface of the continuum film enhances the membrane's tensile strength, resulting in the enhanced water retention capacity of the fracturing fluid gel at high temperatures. Thereby, the temperature and shear resistance of the gel is enhanced. In addition, this work reveals in detail the effects of pH and crosslinker dosage on the gel properties of fracturing fluid formed by graphene oxide crosslinker. It has significant significance for further improving the GOB's properties and developing other types of nanomaterials in guar gum fracturing fluids.

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Next-Generation Boron-Crosslinked Fracturing Fluids: Breaking the Lower Limits on Polymer Loadings

Holtsclaw

Montenegro-Galindo

Chopade

2015

Day 1 Mon, September 28, 2015

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Hydraulic fracturing is a robust stimulation technique that has been employed for more than 60 years to help increase the recovery rate of hydrocarbons from reservoirs. Hydraulic fracturing fluids are key components of the process. Significant efforts have been made to refine the fluids and advance new technology to help improve the economics, efficiency, and safety of the systems. Specifically, the pursuit of fluids that provide reliable and consistent performance while using lower concentrations of polymer, usually guar or a guar derivative, has been a recurrent point of emphasis in fracturing fluid advancement. There are many advantages of using lower polymer concentrations, including lower costs, improved logistics, and introducing less polymer with its associated residues into the fracture, among others. This paper presents a new fracturing fluid that combines a next-generation boron crosslinker with a new hydroxypropyl guar (HPG) to be crosslinked with 40 to 60% less polymer than used in conventional borate-crosslinked fluids. For this fluid, HPG loadings in the range of 8 to 12 lbm/1,000 gal were used to produce boron-crosslinked stimulation fluids stable up to 200°F. Fluid viscosity testing showed stable fracturing fluids with controlled breaking profiles at temperatures up to 180°F. Dynamic proppant suspension testing indicated that the new fracturing fluid exhibited proppant transport equal to or better than conventional borate fluids. Regained permeability testing using Berea sandstone cores exceeded 75% at 160°F, 85% at 180°F, and 95% at 200°F. Additionally, excellent fluid cleanup was measured by retained proppant pack conductivity with 2 lbm/ft2 20/40-mesh lightweight ceramic proppant. This new boron-crosslinked fluid retains the “rehealable” property and flexibility of conventional borate-crosslinked fluids; however, the polymer is crosslinked at or near the minimum concentration at which the polymer chains can entangle (and are capable of crosslinking), which is an improvement compared to conventional borate-fluids. This concentration is known as the critical overlap concentration, c*, of the polymer. The use of the new crosslinking technology coupled with the new HPG allows for a two-fold advantage in terms of residue reduction. The derivatized polymer requires additional processing, yielding a cleaner polymer with less residue, and the lower polymer dosage results in a further reduction of residue compared to conventional fluids.

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Pushing the Limit on Guar Loading: Treatment of a Green River Sandstone Formation by Use of a Novel Low-Polymer Crosslinked Fluid

Cited by 4 publications

References 15 publications

Laboratory Evaluation of a Low pH and Low Polymer Concentration Zirconium-CMHPG Gel System for Hydraulic Fracturing

Laboratory Evaluation of a Low pH and Low Polymer Concentration Zirconium-CMHPG Gel System for Hydraulic Fracturing

Synthesis and Crosslinking Mechanism of Colloidal Graphene Oxide Crosslinker for Crosslinking Low-Concentration Hydroxypropyl Guar Gum Fracturing Fluids

Next-Generation Boron-Crosslinked Fracturing Fluids: Breaking the Lower Limits on Polymer Loadings

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