5.

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING 2

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FRACTURING HYDRAULICS
The hydraulic power required to pump qt barrels of fluid per minute into a well with a surface injection pressure of ps psi is given by the product ps qt or, converting to hydraulic horsepower,

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Surface Injection Pressure

The pump pressure or surface injection pressure, ps, is equal to the sum of the bottom-hole fracture treating pressure pt, the frictional pressure drop in the pipe pf, and the pressure drop through the perforations pp, minus the hydrostatic pressure ps,
(4.20)

If, during the treatment, the pumps are stopped, the surface pressure will drop, as there is no flow.
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Surface Injection Pressure

In the momentary absence of frictional pressure losses, the bottom-hole fracture treating pressure can be calculated with greater precision from the expression
(4.21)

Where pi is the instantaneous surface shut-down pressure. In addition, the frictional pressure losses in the system (pt + pp) can be measured indirectly, by use of the equation
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(4.22)

Surface Injection Pressure

Since the pressure drop across the perforations is usually small in comparison with the other pressure terms, one can assume that it is negligible and obtain the surface injection pressure as
(4.23)

Since pf and pp in Eq (4.20) are influenced by the flow rate, the surface injection pressure will also be dependent upon rate.
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Bottom-hole Treating Pressure

The bottom-hole treating pressure pt is determined from the fracture gradient Gf and the depth D to the fracture, since
(4.24)

(4.25)

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Hydrostatic Pressure
The hydrostatic pressure ps is obtained from the density of the fluid including the propping agent.

(4.26)

where

is the specific gravity of the fracture fluid, x is the concentration of sand in pounds per gallon of fluid, 2.63 is the specific gravity of sand. 7

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Hydrostatic Pressure
If the specific gravity of the fracturing fluid is given at 60oF, the specific gravity at the average well temperature T is calculated from
(4.27)

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Hydrostatic Pressure
Where is the thermal coefficient of expansion of the fluid. If the fracture fluid is a crude oil, the value of is obtained from volume correction tables. The hydrostatic pressure ps is equal to the hydrostatic gradient times the depth,

(4.28)
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Pressure Drop Across Perforations

Pressure drop across the perforations is obtained directly from Bernoullis equation and converting necessary units.
(4.29)

Where in pounds per gallon, q in gallons per minute, A in square inches, and pressure in pounds per square inch.

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FRACTURE DESIGN CALCULATION

The objective of any type of fracture design calculation is to plan the most economical treatment that will in the desired increase in productivity. There are 2 design cases. (1) Assuming injection rate, size of treatment, fracture gradient (2) Assuming Productivity Ratio
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FRACTURE DESIGN CALCULATION

This type of calculation involves consideration of the following variables:
Fracturing fluid coefficient C Injection rate q Total injection volume V Area of the fracture A Weight of propping agent S Surface injection pressure ps Horsepower required Hh Productivity ratio of the well PR
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Example (4.5)
Design a fracture treatment assuming an injection rate, size of treatment, and fracture gradient, given:

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Example (4.5)
the frictional pressure drop is 1826 psi volume per unit area of the fracture is 0.00833 cu ft/sq ft porosity of most fracturing sand is of the order of 35 per cent The specific gravity of sand is 2.63 and the density is 2.63 x 62.4 or 164 lb/cu ft equivalent diameter (de) of the circular pipe is 3.62 in Fracture pressure is 1826 psi

Solution A review of past treatments in the area shows that a treatment of 40,000 gal of lease oil at an injection rate of 30 bbl per minute has given effective results in this reservoir, also, it is noted that the fracture gradients have 14 been approximately TUNIO, May' 2011,,, Courtesy AP Aung 1.0 psi per ft.

Example (4.5)
With this fracture gradient, the bottom-hole treating pressure is Then the differential pressure across the fracture face is Since lease oil is to be used as the fracturing fluid, the fracturing fluid coefficient is Cc
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Example (4.5)
The pumping time for 40,000 gal of fluid at a rate of 30 bbl/min is Solving for x

And the efficiency from Fig (7.11) is 31 per cent. Then from Eq (4.18) the fracture area is
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Example (4.5)
Then the weight of sand, S, necessary to pack one square foot of fracture is

The maximum amount of sand needed is

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Example (4.5)
And the sand concentration in pounds per gallon of oil is 176,600/40,000 or 4.42 lb/gal. The actual flow rate (including sand) is the total volume (oil plus sand) divided by the total fracture time, or

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Example (4.5)
The coefficient of thermal expansion for oil approximately 0.0005 per degree. The specific gravity of the oil at the average well temperature is And the density is

The hydrostatic pressure developed at 2000 ft is

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Example (4.5)
The average flow velocity in the equivalent pipe is

The Reynolds number of the flow in the equivalent pipe is found from

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20 20

Example (4.5)
Then the surface injection pressure, neglecting the pressure drop across the perforations is Since for 5 in, J-55 casing 60 per cent of the bursting pressure (5320 psi) is 3724 psi, the injection pressure used is within the safe limit. The hydraulic horsepower is calculated as On the basis of 600 hydraulic horsepower per pump truck, five pumpers are required for the job. To calculate the productivity ratio, several assumptions must be made. TUNIO, May' 2011,,, Courtesy AP Aung 21

Example (4.5)
Since the gradient is 1.0 psi per ft and the well depth is 2000 ft, it is assumed that the fracture plane is horizontal. Also, if the fracture area by rf 2 = 198,900 sq ft or rf = 252 ft. the ratio of fracture radius to external radius is rf /re = 252/660 = 0.381.

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Example (4.5)
From Fig (4.7) the permeability of 10-20 mesh sand for a fracture treating pressure of 2000 psig is 60,000 md, the value of kf W/ k h is

From Fig (4.6) the PR is 5.0, so that, if the initial production was 10 bbl per day, the production after fracturing is 50 bbl per day.
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