Fracturing/pressure pumping

Novel Proppant Surface Treatment for Enhanced Performance and Improved Cleanup

A new proppant exhibits a neutrally wet surface, which does not have a preferential affinity for oil, gas, or water and therefore will not promote the preferential entrapment of any phase within the proppant pack.

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This paper describes the development and testing of a new proppant designed to exhibit a neutrally wet surface. The modified surface does not have a preferential affinity for oil, gas, or water and therefore will not promote the preferential entrapment of any phase within the proppant pack. This proppant technology and the results described in this paper should be useful for completions, production, and the work of reservoir engineers dealing with hydraulically fractured wells, particularly in oil- and condensate-rich reservoirs that are particularly challenged by multiphase flow.

Introduction

A new proppant technology has been developed whereby a thin chemical coating is permanently applied to the ceramic proppant surface. The coating is very thin, approximately 0.13 µm, or less than 1% of the thickness of the resin on a standard resin-coated proppant grain.

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