Introduction
Revitalization of slickwater fracs over the last decade have increased due to higher natural gas prices and more experience in fracturing with lower cost fluids. Slickwater fracs have been employed in low permeability and large net pays, and require large amounts of water to obtain adequate fracture half-lengths. Before Barnett Shale was fractured in 1997, many fracs were carried out with a cross-linked fluid and large amounts of proppants. The difficulty in cleaning the wells and the low return made many wells uneconomical. Some wells were even treated with slickwater and no proppant. Initial production was higher but declined rapidly. Eventually, the state of the art has evolved to high rate slickwater fracs with various additives. The question to be addressed is how do the various additves perform in shale and how do we select which additves are necessary particularly in light of the fact that most fracs are now conducted with produced and/or flowback water from previous fracs.
Selecting a method of extracting the gas is crucial in how one should stimulate the shale pay. The mechanical properties indicate that horizontal wells may be a viable option. Whether vertical or sub-vertical wells are drilled, there will be a variety of stimulation options available, with the selection of the fluid and additives being based upon the mineralogy.
Fluid additive selection needs to take into account the:
- Tubulars and pumping rate and pressures
- High percent of clays.
- Potential generation of fines both siliceous and organic
- Acid solubility
- Microbiological activity
- Potential for scale generation
- Problem with recovering injected fluids
