Preparation and performance evaluation of the slickwater using novel polymeric drag reducing agent with high temperature and shear resistance ability

Slickwater fracturing fluids are widely used in the development of unconventional oil and gas resources due to the advantages of low cost,low formation damage and high drag reduction performance.However,their performance is severely affected at high temperatures.Drag reducing agent is the key to determine the drag reducing performance of slickwater.In this work,in order to further improve the temperature resistance of slickwater,a temperature-resistant polymeric drag reducing agent(PDRA)was synthesized and used as the basis for preparing the temperature-resistant slickwater.The slickwater system was prepared with the compositions of 0.2 wt%PDRA,0.05 wt%drainage aid nonylphenol polyoxyethylene ether phosphate(NPEP)and 0.5 wt%anti-expansion agent polyepichlorohydrindimethylamine(PDM).The drag reduction ability,rheology properties,temperature and shear resistance ability,and core damage property of slickwater were systematically studied and evaluated.In contrast to on-site drag reducing agent(DRA)and HPAM,the temperature-resistant slickwater demonstrates enhanced drag reduction efficacy at 90℃,exhibiting superior temperature and shear resistance ability.Notably,the drag reduction retention rate for the slickwater achieved an impressive 90.52%after a 30-min shearing period.Additionally,the core damage is only 5.53%.We expect that this study can broaden the application of slickwater in high-temperature reservoirs and provide a theoretical basis for field applications.

A novel model for the proppant equilibrium height in hydraulic fractures for slickwater treatments

The proppant equilibrium height is the basis of investigating proppant distributions in artificial fractures and has a great significant influence on hydraulic fracturing effect.There are two shortcomings of current research on proppant equilibrium heights,one of which is that the effect of fracture widths is neglected when calculating the settling velocity and another of which is that the settling bed height is a constant when building the settling bed height growth rate model.To fill those two shortcomings,this work provides a novel model for the proppant equilibrium height in hydraulic fractures for slickwater treatments.A comparison between the results obtained from the novel model and the published model and experimental results indicates that the proposed model is verified.From the sensitivity analysis,it is concluded that the proppant equilibrium height increases with an increasing proppant density.The proppant equilibrium height decreases with an increase in the slickwater injection rate and increases with an increase in the proppant injection rate.The increase in proppant diameter results in an increasing the friction factor,which makes proppant equilibrium heights decrease.Meanwhile,the increase in proppant sizes results in an increase in proppant settling rates,which makes the proppant equilibrium height increase.When the effect of the proppant diameter on settling rates is more significant than that on friction factors,the equilibrium height increases with an increasing proppant size.This work provides a research basis of proppant distributions during the hydraulic fracture.

Experimental study on proppant-carrying migration and settlement of slickwater in narrow plate fractures based on PIV/PTV

Hydraulic fracturing is the primary method used for oilfield stimulation,and the migration and settlement pattern of proppant plays a crucial role in the formation of high conductivity propping fractures in the reservoir.This study summarizes two growth modes of sand dune:the‘overall longitudinal growth’mode and the‘push growth along fracture length direction’mode.To investigate these modes,a twophase velocity test is conducted using PIV,and the exposure difference is utilized to separate the tracer and track the single-phase velocity.By analyzing the slickwater flow field and proppant velocity field,the micro-motion mechanism behind the two dune growth modes is quantitatively examined.The results indicate that mode 1 growth of the sand dune occurs when a pump with a large mesh number,high polymer viscosity,and large displacement is used.On the other hand,mode 2 growth is observed when a pump with a small mesh number,low polymer viscosity,and small displacement is employed.It is important to note that there is no clear boundary for the migration and sedimentation mode of proppant,as they can transition into each other under certain conditions.These modes only exist during specific stages of sand dune growth.In the case of the‘backflow’pattern,the settlement of proppant is primarily influenced by the vortex structure of slickwater.Conversely,in the‘direct’pattern,the proppant is propelled forward by the drag of the fluid and settles due to its own gravity.Once the proppant placement reaches equilibrium,the direction of proppant velocity follows a normal distribution within 0°.This approach establishes a connection between the overall placement of the sand dune and the microscopic movement of the proppant and slickwater.Optimizing construction parameters during fracturing construction can enhance the effectiveness of distal proppant placement in fractures.

The effects of various factors on spontaneous imbibition in tight oil reservoirs

Slickwater fracturing fluids have gained widespread application in the development of tight oil reservoirs. After the fracturing process, the active components present in slickwater can directly induce spontaneous imbibition within the reservoir. Several variables influence the eventual recovery rate within this procedure, including slickwater composition, formation temperature, degree of reservoir fracture development, and the reservoir characteristics. Nonetheless, the underlying mechanisms governing these influences remain relatively understudied. In this investigation, using the Chang-7 block of the Changqing Oilfield as the study site, we employ EM-30 slickwater fracturing fluid to explore the effects of the drag-reducing agent concentration, imbibition temperature, core permeability, and core fracture development on spontaneous imbibition. An elevated drag-reducing agent concentration is observed to diminish the degree of medium and small pore utilization. Furthermore, higher temperatures and an augmented permeability enhance the fluid flow properties, thereby contributing to an increased utilization rate across all pore sizes. Reduced fracture development results in a lower fluid utilization across diverse pore types. This study deepens our understanding of the pivotal factors affecting spontaneous imbibition in tight reservoirs following fracturing. The findings act as theoretical, technical, and scientific foundations for optimizing fracturing strategies in tight oil reservoir transformations.

Research on the Performance of New Weighted Slippery Water Fracturing Fluid System

Deep and ultra-deep reservoirs have dense matrix and high fracture pressure, which leads to high pressure and difficulty in fracturing construction. Conventional aggravated fracturing fluids have the problems of low aggravation efficiency, high friction resistance, etc., and the reduction of construction pressure cannot reach the theoretical effect. In view of the above problems, this paper adopts the weighting agent HD160 and the drag reducing agent JHFR-2 to form a new type of weighted slippery water fracturing fluid system. And the weighting performance, drag reduction performance, corrosion performance, anti-expansion performance and reservoir damage of this system were studied. The results show that the density of the system is adjustable within 1.1 - 1.6 g·cm−3, and the drag reduction rate can be up to 68% at 1.5 g·cm−3, with low corrosion rate, surface tension less than 28 mN·m−1, anti-expansion rate as high as 94.5%, and the damage rate of the reservoir permeability is less than 10%, which is of good application prospect.

Drag reduction behavior of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide/xanthan gum mixed polymer solutions

Partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide（HPAM）as the main component of slickwater fracturing fluid is a shear-sensitive polymer,which suffers from mechanical degradation at turbulent flow rates.Five different concentrations of HPAM as well as mixtures of polyacrylamide/xanthan gum were prepared to investigate the possibility of improving shear stability of HPAM.Drag reduction（DR）measurements were performed in a closed flow loop.For HPAM solutions,the extent of DR increased from 30%to67%with increasing HPAM concentration from 100 to1000 wppm.All the HPAM solutions suffered from mechanical degradation and loss of DR efficiency over the shearing period.Results indicated that the resistance to shear degradation increased with increasing polymer concentration.DR efficiency of 600 wppm xanthan gum（XG）was 38%,indicating that XG was not as good a drag reducer as HPAM.But with only 6%DR decline,XG solution exhibited a better shear stability compared to HPAM solutions.Mixed HPAM/XG solutions initially exhibited greater DR（40%and 55%）compared to XG,but due to shear degradation,DR%dropped for HPAM/XG solutions.Compared to 200 wppm HPAM solution,addition of XG did not improve the drag reduction efficiency of HPAM/XG mixed solutions though XG slightly improved the resistance against mechanical degradation in HPAM/XG mixed polymer solutions.