With the development of the shale gas fracturing market, and increasing demand for oil in China and abroad, price hiked in guar gum , and demand augmented for high-performance fracturing fluid.
A lot of new materials come out to replace the traditional Guar Gum based fracturing fluid system, such as clear fracturing fluids, polymer fracturing fluid, low molecular weight polymer fracturing technology. But traditional habits and inner weak points of those new technologies hold back the widespread application.
Compared with other fracturing fluid systems, Slickwater has following advantages
1) Minimize the equipment involvement. No need to prepare the fluid in blending tower, or site preparation pool, it can be added into fracturing fluid directly, which can carry the sand instantly. It can simplify the operation procedure without reducing the stability of sand-carrying capacity. Reduce the labor and equipment cost, easy to use, shorten working hours, increase efficiency, especially valuable for the operation with demand for tens of thousands cubic meters sands, it can save considerable operation cost, and increase the stimulation efficiency.
2) Cost-saving and Eco-friendly. The Slickwater can be added on-demand-on-site, without pre-blending, avoiding waste of unnecessary blending, consequently save the cost and reduce the detriment to the environment.
3) High Sand-carrying ratio. Dissolved in water, the Slickwater solution can generate high viscosity by itself. This will facilitate carrying sand. Tested in lab, the sand-carrying ratio can reach maximum 200%.
4) Oil reservoir protection. Slickwater is soluble in water, residue-free, so reduces damage to reservoir. The fluid cleanup is not necessary during stimulation for water wells.
5) Speedy cleanup. By using gel breaker, the polymer molecule can be degraded into smaller one, or even into aqueous humor, or lower viscosity, to realize the speedy cleanup.
6) Better Rheology. Slickwater has better rheology, making less friction for protecting oil reservoir.
7) Better Stimulation.
8) Wide application range. It can be used during fracturing of oil wells, water wells, and gas well; can be also used during fracturing of shale gas and coal-bed methane. Slickwater is compatible with all kinds of proppant, such as quartz sand, ceramic sand and resin coated sand.
