TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and evaluation of a novel seawater-based viscoelastic fracturing fluid system
AU - Sun, Xin
AU - Gao, Zhibin
AU - Zhao, Mingwei
AU - Gao, Mingwei
AU - Du, Mingyong
AU - Dai, Caili
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Based on the situation of the freshwater shortage during the large scale hydraulic fracturing on offshore-platform, a novel seawater-based viscoelastic fracturing fluid system was developed. The system was composed with a commercial anionic – nonionic viscoelastic surfactant named Fatty Methyl Ester Sulfonates (FMES) with the concentration of 60 mmol/L, the South China Sea simulated seawater with the TDS of 32500 mg/L and Na+ with the concentration of 1320 mmol/L. On the basis of this fracturing fluid system, a series of performances have been evaluated through extensive experiments. Analysis of laboratory tests indicated that the new fluid has good viscosity stability, low fluid loss and high proppant suspending ability under 75 °C. This fluid always appeared as a pseudoplastic fluid at various shearing speeds. After high speed shearing, the viscosity recovered quickly which means the fluid has remarkable self-repairability. This fluid breaks rapidly once oil injected. The observed permeability return rate achieved through core flooding experiment was over 70%, which indicated low formation damage after fracturing. Furthermore, the vermicular micelle and microstructure of fluid system has been discovered through Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscope (cryo-TEM), which well explained the mechanism of excellent performances of fluid system.
AB - Based on the situation of the freshwater shortage during the large scale hydraulic fracturing on offshore-platform, a novel seawater-based viscoelastic fracturing fluid system was developed. The system was composed with a commercial anionic – nonionic viscoelastic surfactant named Fatty Methyl Ester Sulfonates (FMES) with the concentration of 60 mmol/L, the South China Sea simulated seawater with the TDS of 32500 mg/L and Na+ with the concentration of 1320 mmol/L. On the basis of this fracturing fluid system, a series of performances have been evaluated through extensive experiments. Analysis of laboratory tests indicated that the new fluid has good viscosity stability, low fluid loss and high proppant suspending ability under 75 °C. This fluid always appeared as a pseudoplastic fluid at various shearing speeds. After high speed shearing, the viscosity recovered quickly which means the fluid has remarkable self-repairability. This fluid breaks rapidly once oil injected. The observed permeability return rate achieved through core flooding experiment was over 70%, which indicated low formation damage after fracturing. Furthermore, the vermicular micelle and microstructure of fluid system has been discovered through Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscope (cryo-TEM), which well explained the mechanism of excellent performances of fluid system.
KW - Microstructure
KW - Performance evaluation
KW - Seawater
KW - Viscoelastic fracturing fluid
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070936970&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.petrol.2019.106408
DO - 10.1016/j.petrol.2019.106408
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85070936970
VL - 183
JO - Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering
JF - Journal of Petroleum Science & Engineering
SN - 0920-4105
M1 - 106408
ER -