American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - 86

Resource Science
ULWPs have been demonstrated to
provide effective production from fracture
areas that otherwise would be left unpropped
and unable to contribute production
with a conventional sand/slickwater
frac. Production simulations illustrate
that treatment designs incorporating neutrally
buoyant proppant designs tailored
for contemporary unconventional well
stimulations deliver cumulative production
increases of 30% to more than 50% compared
with the typical large-volume
sand/slickwater treatments.
Unfortunately, simulation results may
not sufficiently lessen risk uncertainties
for operators planning high-cost multistage
horizontal fracs. Consequently, operators
continue to initiate field trial projects in
extended-length horizontal unconventional
wells to validate the production simulations.
Since the earliest days of hydraulic
fracturing in shale reservoirs, the key to
a successful frac treatment has been deploying
a particle light enough to remain
suspended in thin carrier fluids, small
enough to be carried out to the tips of
induced fractures, and strong and crushresistant
enough to remain intact (not
flowed back with reservoir fluids) while
temperature and pressure effects take
place during production.
Particle strength at reservoir conditions
is a critical characteristic of proppants,
ensuring that they will provide longlasting
conductive pathways. But the
stronger the proppant material, the heavier
it tends to become, making it quicker to
settle and more difficult to transport and
effectively place deep into fractures.
Staying Suspended
Unfortunately, in the low-viscosity
slickwater fluids used to fracture shale
and tight oil reservoirs, sand proppants
tend to sink like the proverbial rock tossed
in the ocean. This phenomenon has been
well documented in fracture flow simulations,
and fracture modeling of slickwater
treatments suggests that only 25%-30%
of the created fracture area is propped to
provide adequate stimulation.
Simply put, gravity causes some per86
THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
centage of the sand pumped during a
frac treatment to settle out of the fracturing
fluid before entering the fracture network.
Testing shows that as little as 12% of induced
fractures are propped by sand.
Even achieving a propped volume on the
order of 25%-30% of the fractured area
still allows most of the fracture network
to close. By mixing near neutrally buoyant
proppant with sand, operators can produce
80%-90% of created fractures. Because
it is made of an extremely light thermoset
nanocomposite bead, ULWP has a specific
gravity that is approximately half that of
sand. Instead of sinking and settling, it
enters the fracture network and stays suspended
until closure sets in and locks it
in place.
The latest generation of near neutrally
buoyant thermoset nanocomposite proppants
exhibit an apparent specific gravity
ASG of 1.06 and meets or exceeds all
ISO/API requirements for reservoir environments
with temperatures to 325
degrees Fahrenheit and pressures to
12,500 psi. In addition, this material
has excelled in independent large-scale
proppant transport testing compared
with other proppant materials.
In practice, the ultralight proppant is
added to the fracturing treatments at 2%5%
by weight of sand throughout the
slurry stages (i.e., in a typical stage 7,500
pounds of ULWP with 250,000 pounds
of sand). Fracture modeling of slickwater
treatments shows this approach yields a
propped fracture area of ±85% compared
with ±25% using sand alone. In addition,
the increased conductive fracture area
provides for greater production, delivering
an average 30% cumulative production
uplift in the first year, representing an
added 50,000 barrels or more of yearone
production for a typical multizone
horizontal well.
Vertical Well Applications
One of the earliest applications of ULWPs
was five vertical wells completed
in the San Andres Formation in Andrews
County, Tx. Three of the wells were fracture
stimulated using slickwater with sand
and 8,000 pounds ULWP-1.05. In addition,
two vertical offset wells were completed
with slickwater and sand without ULWP.
The 12-month cumulative production data
for the wells shows that the three wells
stimulated with sand and ULWP-1.05
averaged 32% more oil production than
the two sand-only offset wells.
Similar results were documented in
vertical wells completed in the Spraberry
Formation in Texas' Ector and Howard
counties in the Permian Basin. In one
application, three wells were fractured
using slickwater with sand and 6,500
pounds of ULWP-1.05, and their performance
was compared with five offset
wells completed with slickwater and
sand alone. The average cumulative production
of the three ULWP-1.05 wells
was 30% higher than the five wells
stimulated with slickwater and sand.
The results were even more dramatic
in a group of four vertical wells in the
Clearfork Formation in Mitchell County,
Tx., where 12-month average cumulative
production from the two wells completed
two using slickwater with sand and 12,000
pounds of ULWP-1.05 was 138% greater
than the two offsets that used slickwater
and sand alone.
In Ward County, Tx., a group of 22
vertical wells completed in the Cherry
Canyon Formation included nine wells
with slickwater and a relatively small
volume (40,000 pounds) of ULWP-1.05
alone with no sand. The other 13 offset
wells were completed with slickwater
and 540,000 pounds of sand alone with
no ULWP. The average 12-month cumulative
production data shows that the nine
wells using ULWP-1.05 outperformed
the 13 sand-only offset wells by 20%,
even though the offsets had pumped 13.5
times more proppant.
Horizontal Well Applications
In the Bone Spring Formation in Eddy
County, N.M., a group of five horizontal
wells were drilled with average lateral
lengths of 4,400 feet. Two of the wells
were stimulated conventionally with slickwater
and sand, and three were treated

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023

Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - Intro
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - Cover1
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - Cover2
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - 3
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - 4
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - Contents
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - 6
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - Cover3
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2023 - Cover4
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