Unconventional Hydrocarbon Resources (PE 413)

Shale Gas
Hydraulic Fracturing
Dr Bijaya K Behera
Professor School of Petroleum Technology
1

Acknowledgement

Dhruva Dhankher Ayush Nitin Chaudhary Harsh Vora Sunil Kumar Gaurav Tomar Chanchal Chakrachhatri

Sharanya Gantla Ayush Mishra Swetha Gokavarapu Yash Malani Yashaswini Nallaparaju Mayank Jhunjhunwala Abbasi Soni Mayank Sharma

B. Tech Petroleum Engineering, 2009 Batch Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar

What is Hydraulic Fracturing?

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of pumping a fluid into a wellbore at an injection rate that is too high for the formation to accept in a radial flow pattern that exceeds the breakdown pressure of the formation that is open to the wellbore. Once the formation breaks-down, a crack or fracture is formed, and the injected fluid begins moving down the fracture. Fluid that does not contain any propping agent, often called pad, is injected to create a fracture that grows up, out and down, and creates a fracture that is wide enough to accept a propping agent. The purpose of the propping agent is to prop open the fracture once the pumping operation ceases.

Rock formation properties

To begin with, we first of all need to find out the geophysical and geo-mechanical properties of the target formation by : 1. log analysis 2. core analysis 3. well testing The important properties that we need to Know are : 1. Youngs modulus 4. Permeability 2. Bulk modulus 5. Porosity 3. Poissons ratio 6. Saturation

Hydraulic Fracturing Process

Steps of Hydraulic Fracturing Process

FRACTURE LENGTH
Fracture length defines the extension of the fracture in the formation. The fracture length orientation depends on the poisons ratio of the formation. If the formation is bounded by other formations having higher poisons ratio then the fracture length would be much longer than the fracture width. Calculation of fracture length 2-D Models 3-D Models

FRACTURE LENGTH

Where, Xf = Productive fracture half length, E= Plane strain modulus, Vi = Volume of fluid injected, hf = Fracture height, bN = Nolte method intercept, pc = Closure pressure, Rf = Radial fracture radius

Closure Stress/pressure: Closure stress/pressure is the pressure at which the fracture effectively closes without proppant in place. The closure stress at a given depth is the sum of overburden pressure and pore pressure.
PKN: Perkins&Kern, 1961 and Nordgren, 1972Model (PKN) without leakoff test 7 KGD: Khristianovic and Zheltov, 1955; Geertsma and de Klerk, 1969

FRACTURE CONDUCTIVITY
Fracture conductivity is the product of fracture permeability and propped fracture width left after the fracture has closed. Dimensionless fracture conductivity is a key design parameter in well stimulation that compares the capacity of the fracture to transmit fluids down the fracture and into the wellbore with the ability of the formation to deliver fluid into the fracture. CfD=kfw/kFxf xf is the fracture half-length, kf is the fracture permeability, and w is the fracture width kF is the formation permeability

TYPES OF FRACTURING FLUIDS

Water based fluids Oil based

Alcohol Based

Emulsion Fracturing Fluid

Foam Based fluid

New
Generation

Fracturing Fluid

Low viscosity fluid or uncross linked polymers & slick water

Cross linked fracturing fluids

Visco elastic surfactant based

Visco elastic surfactant foam

Borate cross linked

9

Metallic ion cross linked

Delayed cross linked

TYPES OF FRACTURING FLUIDS

Water Based Fluid
Economical, readily available, easily viscosified and yields increased Hydrostatic head Includes low viscosity slick water with low proppant conc. and high pump rates creating highly complex fractures in gas reservoirs. cross-linked fluid with increased mol. wt. resulting from tying together various polymer molecules into a structure through metal-chelate cross linkers is an advancement of water based fluids.

Oil Based Fluids

Mostly it is a reaction product of Aluminium Phosphate Ester and Base, typically NaAlO2 Requires a great deal of technical capability and quality control Primary disadvantages are fire hazards and pumping friction

Alcohol Based Fluids

Methanol and isopropanol provides low surface tension, miscibility with water and compatibility with water sensitive formation Drawbacks are inherent danger to person breathing alcohol fumes and danger of combustion
10

TYPES OF FRACTURING FLUIDS

Emulsions Based Fluids
Highly viscous solutions with good transport properties and fluid loss control Water external emulsion are easy to mix and pump and have tendency to achieve friction reduction with polymers Oil external emulsions yields high friction pressure related to high oil viscosity and lack of friction reduction

Foam Based Fluids

Simply a gas in liquid emulsion where gas bubbles provide high visco and excellent proppant transport capabilities Minimises the amount of fluid placed on the formation and improves fracturing fluid recovery by inherent energy of gas Applications are in shallow, low pressure wells and water sensitive formations

New Generation Fluids

VES base fluid uses surfactants in combination with inorganic salts creating ordered structures which increases viscosity and elasticity Extension of VES fluid tech is VES foams which can be formed with N2 or CO2
11

ADDITIVES USED IN FRACTURING FLUID

Sr. No.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Additive
Polymers Cross-linkers Biocides Buffers Surfactants Fluid-Loss additives Stabilizers Breakers

Function
Used to viscosify the fluid. Used to change the viscous fluid to a pseudo-plastic fluid. Used to kill bacteria in the mix water. Used to control the pH of the fracture fluid. Used to lower the surface tension. Used to minimize fluid leak-off into the formation. Used to keep the fluid viscous at high temperature. Used to break the polymers and crosslink sites at low temperature.

12

SELECTION OF FRACTURE FLUIDS

The properties that any Fracturing fluid should possess:

Low leak-off rate. Ability to carry the propping agent. Low pumping friction loss. Easy to remove from the formation. Compatible with the natural formation fluids. Minimum damage to the formation permeability. Break back to a low viscosity fluid for clean up after the treatment.

13

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AFFECTING PROPPANT PERFORMANCE

The propping agent qualities that have consistently proven effective in achieving proppant packs of high permeability and good integrity are:

Small, rounded particles Uniform size (narrow mesh distribution) High degree of sphericity High compressive strength High degree of roundness Consistent density Stability at reservoir temperature

14

TYPES OF PROPPANTS
1. Sand
2. Ceramic Sand 3. Sintered Bauxite 4. Resin coated sand 5. Intermediate strength proppants

6. Light weight ceramic proppant

7. High strength proppants
15

PROPPANT SELECTION CRITERIA

Compatibility with reservoir fluids and reservoir rock Compatibility with reservoir pressure (e.g., Foams to aid flow back in low-pressure reservoirs) Surface pump pressure or pipe friction considerations Cost Compatibility with other materials (e.g., Resin coated proppant) Safety and environmental concerns
16

PROPPANT SELECTION CRITERIA

The usual proppants used are listed below in accordance with the closure stresses:
Frac Sand (<6,000psi) Resin-Coated Frac Sand (<8,000psi) Intermediate Strength Ceramics (<10,000psi) High Strength Ceramics (<15,000psi) ( this is illustrated in fig 2 as well )

17

PROPPANT SELECTION CRITERIA

18

PROPPANT TRANSPORT
Modes of proppant transport
Simple settling
Governed by Stokes law

Where,
vfall is the settling rate in ft/s, dprop is the average proppant particle diameter in in., is the fluidviscosity in cp, and prop and fluid are the specific gravity of the proppant and the fluid, respectively

19

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Water Consumption Sand and proppants Ground water contamination Toxic Chemicals and radioactive material Waste disposal Seismology and earthquakes

IMPACTS

REMEDIES
20

Recycling the fluid Isolating formation from fresh water aquifers Underground injection treatment and discharge Use of surface impoundments

THANK YOU