Proceedings of SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition · 2003 · 87 citations · 0 references
EngineeringMaterials EngineeringMaterials ScienceBuilding MaterialsMaterials CharacterizationTransport PhenomenaElectrical ConductivityMaterial PerformanceProppant SelectionProppant TransportConductivityMaterial Performance TestingProppant ConductivityProppant DensityProppant Pack ConductivityProppant Pack PermeabilityProppant Pack RetentionProppant Selection Criteria
Proppant selection in hydraulic fracturing is a critical economic and technical decision, yet laboratory conductivity tests often overestimate field performance, making small lab differences appear significant while other field factors dominate. The study aims to accurately assess all damage mechanisms that occur during fracturing and their impact on final conductivity, fracture cleanup, and stimulation response. The authors outline the primary damage mechanisms and quantify the expected variance in laboratory conductivity measurements. They find that laboratory conductivity variance is significant and must be considered when selecting proppants for field performance.
Abstract Proppant selection in hydraulic fracturing is a critical economic and technical decision that affects stimulation and field development economics. In many cases the selection is based on laboratory data from standardized API conductivity tests on clean packs at specified stress and temperature. These tests predict conductivities that are optimistic compared to observed field performance. Often a laboratory measured conductivity difference of only 5-10% is considered a significant variance when applied to the producing life of a well. The significance of these small differences, however, is often overwhelmed by other factors affecting fracture performance in the field. The selection of a particular proppant should be based on an identifiable difference in performance under field conditions. This requires an accurate assessment of all the damage mechanisms that can and do occur during fracturing and their impact on final conductivity. This paper outlines the primary damage mechanisms and their effect on conductivity, fracture cleanup and ultimate stimulation response. The expected variance in laboratory measurements of conductivity is also quantified.