Fracturing Basics

Damage Bypass Stimulation

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Prod Improvement from Stimulations

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1
Acid

Breakdowns

Hydraulic Fracturing

re/rw=625 re/rw=1250 re/rw=2500 re/rw=5,000 re/rw=10,000

J/Jo

10

100

1000

10000

Increased well radius/init well radius

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Optimizing Fracture Length by Reservoir Studies & Costs

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Efficient fracture half lengths for various permeabilities.

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Fracture Gradient
Ranges from about 0.5 psi/ft to over 1 psi/ft. Highly affected by regional and local stresses, rock types, wellbore access to the reservoir, deviation, plane of the perfs respective to the frac direction, tortuosity, etc.

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Usually a low viscosity fluid

Usually a high viscosity frac fluid.

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Proppant Permeabilities
-12 / +20 mesh -20 / +40 mesh -40/ +60 mesh -70/ +140 mesh 450+ darcies 120 darcies 60 darcies 0.6 darcies

These perms are without stress and are for clean proppant packs.
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Proppant Conductivity
12/20 NW sand 16/20 Naplite Resin coated 16/20 Naplite Resin coated 16/20 Carbolite Re-cycled 16/20 Naplite Conductivity 4,500 md-ft 15,000 md-ft 15,000 md-ft 15,000 md-ft 3,500 md-ft

Conditions: Frac fluid is YF130LGD, Temp = 195 F, Closure Stress: 4000 psi (Valhall data)
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Fracturing as a Means of Sand Control

Frac and Pack Screenless Fracs

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Perforating for Fracs

Size - typically BH Orientation
usually 60 degrees to 120 degrees 180 degree for screenless
along frac direction?

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Proppant
Type conductivity is most important strength is less important fines invasion? Other forms of damage
paraffin asphaltenes scales

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Fluids
Non damaging
look at clays look at water saturation

Transport important
must transport up to 16 ppga

Efficiency critical
building width is first step

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Formation Permeability Ranges

Low perm (<1 to 50), length is important High perm - conductivity critical
get past the damage how long? - few meters how tall - ??

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Maximizing Conductivity
TSO Design (tip screen-out) maintaining conductivity

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Application
Pad - design from minifrac Slurry (1 to 12 ppga) Flush

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Importance of Screenout
Critical to make conductivity
widths?
normal frac = 0.1 to 0.3 TSO = 0.5 to >1

Screenout is usually seen as a pressure spike near the end - can see it coming by watching pressures
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Tip Screen Out (TSO) Fracturing

Screen area open to flow =6% to >10% Perf area open 6 to 10% Skin = -3 to 10 Advantages stimulation
links across layers and low vertical k highest reliability sand control method good flow in moderate to higher kh

Disadvantages usually most expensive

harder to design and apply frac capacity vs. perm contrast critical height growth uncertainty? some proppant stability problem at depth

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Step 1 - Sequence of Pumping a Tip-Screenout (TSO) Frac

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Step 2- Start pad no prop breaks formation down & initiates fracture

What is happening? - fracture breakdown, width development, length growth, probably height growth AND fluid loss from frac to the formation.

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Step 3 End of the pad prop is coming fracture width is created

What is happening? - moderate frac width sufficient to admit proppant, sufficient length and height to create width AND fluid loss from frac to formation with some fluid loss control.

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Step 4 Start of first prop stage usually about 2 lb/gal

What is happening? Proppant is entering the frac, and the pad, although diminished in volume due to leakoff, is still increasing the frac length and height (and width?). The proppant is becoming more concentrated by fluid leakoff as it travels down the fracture.

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Fluid lost to the formation from the fracture steadily increases the proppant concentration of the slurry in the fracture.

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Step 5 end of 2 lb/gal stage start of 4 lb/gal stage

What is happening? 1 The small amount of pad remaining is at the edges of the growing frac, but is being lost to fluid leakoff; 2. The 2 lb/gal pad is losing liquid volume, concentrating the proppant; 3. The 4 lb/gal pad has entered the fracture, driving the other fluids in front of it and slowing losing some of its volume to leakoff.

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The proppant steadily concentrates in the remaining fracture fluid as leakoff into the walls of the fracture continues. Proppant concentration may begin as low as 1 to 2 lb/gal and increase to 12 or more lb/gal at the very end of the fracture treatment.

4 lb/gal

Was 4 lb/gal, now 6 lb/gal,

Was 2, now 6

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Steps 6 and 7 pumping stages of increased proppant concentration

What is happening? 1. 2. 3. Pumping sequential stages of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 lb/gal. The fluid leakoff is steadily increasing the proppant concentration. When the proppant concentration at the tip of the fracture approaches 16 lb/gal, the slurry is no longer pumpable.

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Proppant concentration reaches a maximum at 16 lb/gal near the tip of at a highly permeably section and the proppant screens out and the frac length stops growing.

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Last stage of proppant continues until the job screens out

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Last Step as pressure indicates that the tip screenout is forming, increase pressure at the surface and force as much proppant as possible into the fracture. This creates extra width and proppant loading at the wellbore this means higher flow capacity.

Final proppant loading near the wellbore may be 14 lb/ft2 or more.

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Observations DW Frac Pack

Frac Pack process very similar on every well
Hard to evaluate job quality from DIMS as data not reported

Average sand placed is 84% of sand pumped

Without 2 lowest jobs average is 89%

Frac Screenout reported on 9 wells Annular Pack Processes Variable

6 wells with 8 BPM final rate 4 wells with less than 2 BPM final rate
1 well reported 0.5 BPM to get annular pack

Loss rate Post-Frac pack on 7 wells reported at less than 25 BPH losses (13 reported losses, 7 did not) George E. King Engineering
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Dan Gibson
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Fracturing Disasters
Too little proppant damaged or poor quality proppant reactive base fluids (formation damage) too few/too small perfs perf phasing way out of frac plane over-flushing the treatment fracturing out of zone
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Minifracs
Calibration Treatment
10 to 20% of frac volume same frac fluid at frac rate

To Evaluate
leakoff height growth frac geometry

Procedure
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Fracs in Horizontals and M-Ls

Isolation is the key.

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Spacing on Fractures
spacing related to drainage area permeability intersecting natural fractures

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Concerns Spacing Frac direction Isolation

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