Halliburton’s
conductivity endurance technology addresses US natural gas industry
challenge
Posted: 04 May 2004
In response to the U.S. natural gas industry’s increasing
production decline rates over the past decade, Halliburton’s
Energy Services Group has developed conductivity endurance technology
which includes SandWedge conductivity enhancement system, Expeditesm
service, and optimized proppant selection and treatment design.
The advancement is based on enhanced understanding of the relationship
of the reservoir – proppant interface and fracture conductivity.
This new technology can help improve operators’ return on
investment by enabling higher production for a longer period of
time with minimal interruption.
Reservoir quality of available reservoirs in the US is decreasing
and the nature in which wells are produced today is much more aggressive
than years past, resulting in increased damage to fracture conductivity
which reduces gas flow rates. Earlier findings recently confirmed
by an independent research facility, coupled with recently completed
studies of long-term production results have shown that in addition
to reservoir depletion, two additional factors accelerate production
decline following propped stimulation treatments. These factors
are invasion of crushed formation grains into the proppant pack,
and loss of fracture width due to proppant embedment and flowback.
The findings and studies also show that these negative effects
can be mitigated by designing treatments and choosing propping material
based on enhanced reservoir understanding, and applying the appropriate
coating to the propping agents used in the stimulation treatments.
Only Halliburton offers the proppant coating technologies that incorporate
SandWedge and Expedite agents.
“While we can not affect the reservoir quality, our conductivity
endurance technologies address getting more conductivity from the
proppant placed at first gas and throughout the well’s productive
lifetime, allowing for increased flow,” said Jim Prestidge,
vice president, Halliburton’s Production Optimization Division.
“In fact, an important consideration is that during this period
of restricted proppant availability, we can achieve the conductivity
needed but use up to 30 percent less proppant. We believe that these
technologies will change the manner in which the industry approaches
fracture stimulation in the future in both high perm and low perm
reservoirs.”
Halliburton’s SandWedge conductivity enhancement system attacks
two significant problems that result in fracture conductivity loss:
formation fine intrusion into the proppant pack and proppant pack
damage resulting from production stress cycling. The unique characteristics
of SandWedge agent reduce or eliminate intrusion of formation material
into the proppant pack and stabilize the proppant pack which increases
its resistance to stress cycling damage that can occur when wells
are shut-in for service.
The system works by chemically modifying the surface of the proppant
grains to enhance fracture conductivity resulting from treatments
using water-based fluids. The coating process allows the system
to be used on any available proppant and it is compatible with all
Halliburton water-based fracturing fluids. Also, since this coating
is performed in real time at the well site, only the material pumped
into the well is coated.
In addition, the SandWedge enhancer is specially designed to allow
overboard discharge in the Gulf of Mexico. It conforms to all overboard
oil and grease limits set by the U.S. Minerals Management Service
and can be used in coalbed methane wells and other environmentally
sensitive land areas.
In reservoirs of 60º to 550º Fahrenheit where controlling
proppant flowback is a primary concern, Halliburton’s Expedite
service can improve proppant flowback control, enhance conductivity
and reduce time to production, thereby improving the net present
value (NPV) of fracturing treatments. Expedite service provides
the highest compressive strength available, which is critical to
effectively controlling proppant flowback and allowing operators
to optimally produce their wells.
Widely used (precoated) resin-coated proppants often cannot provide
the necessary compressive strength because high closure stress is
required to provide good grain-to-grain contact prior to resin curing.
This requirement can lead to proppant flowback since in many formations
the fracture may not close sufficiently during the first 24 hours
after treatments. However, even with no closure stress, proppant
coated using Expedite service can provide high strength, consolidated
proppant packs. These packs can reduce proppant flowback under the
most severe conditions and sustain exceptionally high production
rates.
Halliburton, founded in 1919, is one of the world’s largest
providers of products and services to the petroleum and energy industries.
The company serves its customers with a broad range of products
and services through its Energy Services and Engineering and Construction
groups.
For more information see www.halliburton.com
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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