Conventional guar borate systems have historically been preferred for hydraulic fracturing applications because of the lower cost of the base polymer and crosslinker. Additionally, the fluid formulations can be easily tailored based on reservoir conditions and operational needs and the favorable tubular friction reducing characteristics of guar-based fluid systems makes them a desirable option for fracturing fluid systems. However, water insoluble residue resulting from guar-based systems may significantly impact the permeability of the proppant pack when flowing back and producing the well. A recently developed, nearly residue-free (RF) fluid system offers excellent cleanup properties and, as a result, has provided significantly improved production of hydrocarbons compared to typical guar-borate systems. While offering excellent performance and production, the RF fluid demonstrated significantly less friction reduction than comparable guar-based systems. This paper introduces a newly developed fluid system offering equivalent cleanup properties and performance, but with significantly enhanced friction reduction. The lower friction of the (LF)-RF system helps lower wellhead pressures to allow maintaining pump rate, adhering to the job design, to place the desired amount of proppant in the fracture. This newly developed LF-RF fluid is a high performance fracturing fluid with improved regained conductivity and core permeability cleanup compared to typical guar-borate crosslinked systems. It is applicable within a wide variety of reservoirs, including unconventional reservoirs, and to-date has been successfully used in more than 1,100 stages since its introduction in early 2014. The LF-RF fluid system is applicable from 100 to 275°F bottomhole static temperature (BHST) and offers excellent operational versatility and proppant transport. This paper compares fluid performance and friction response of a conventional guar-borate fluid and the existing RF system with the newly developed LF-RF fracturing fluid.

This paper compares the operational performance of a newly developed low friction, nearly residue-free (LF-RF) fluid system to a conventional derivatized guar-based fluid system and an existing nearly residue-free (RF) fluid system. The RF system has provided increased well production in numerous applications; however, the system requires lower treating rates due to increased friction. During recent field operations, the LF-RF system surpassed previous treating rates, which were previously unattainable, while maintaining maximum fluid cleanup. The friction responses between the RF, LF-RF, and derivatized guar-based fluids were assessed through quantitative analysis of surface treating pressures. All comparisons between fluid systems were made between wells on the same pad with the same completion method. The wells used in this study were all located in the Denver/Julesburg (DJ) basin and pumped using the same hybrid treatment design. Along with field data, laboratory testing was conducted to compare the viscosity profiles of the LF-RF and derivatized guar-based fluid, which were used in the field. Guar-based fracturing fluids have long been the industry standard. However, these fluids produce insoluble residue on breaking, which can reduce proppant pack conductivity and adversely affect well production. The RF fluid is an ultraclean, proven system, which has been successfully pumped in more than 16,000 stages. This fluid leaves virtually no insoluble residue, which has led to increased production from unconventional reservoirs. Yet, the RF fluid tends to exhibit increased treating pressures compared to guar-based fluids, which might require lower treating rates during operations. Additionally, a higher gel loading is necessary with the RF fluid to achieve comparable viscosities to the guar-based fluids. The new LF-RF fluid system retains all the beneficial cleanup properties of the RF system, while providing improved friction reduction. Intervals pumped with the LF-RF fluid provided lower treating pressures compared to those pumped with RF fluid, even at increased treating rates. With the improved friction reduction verified, the LF-RF fluid was pumped alongside a derivatized guar-based system at 80 bbl/min; a rate well beyond that which the RF fluid is generally pumped. The LF-RF fluid successfully placed all proppant and had similar treating pressures to the derivatized guar-based system toward the heel of the well. The LF-RF fluid was also able to accomplish this using a gel loading comparable to the derivatized guar-based system. Through quantitative analysis of the surface treating pressures, the LF-RF system has demonstrated increased friction reduction compared to the existing RF system. The improved friction reduction allows the LF-RF fluid to be pumped at high rates, expanding the range of possible well and treatment designs which this fluid system can accommodate.

This paper examines how the use of high-salt-content waters (i.e., produced and flowback water) in conjunction with a recently developed, virtually residue-free (res-free) hydraulic fracturing fluid affects the cleanup properties of the system. The res-free fluid system is designed based on a naturally low residue polymer that, when breaking, causes significantly less damage to the formation and proppant pack compared to conventional guar-based fracturing fluids.Since its introduction, guar-based fluid technology has grown to dominate the hydraulic fracturing industry because of its reliability and cost-effectiveness. However, guar gum contains a significant amount of insoluble residue that is not removed during its processing. The residue can cause damage to both the proppant pack and hydrocarbon-bearing formation when the broken fluid is flowed back following the fracturing treatment. This damage can impair hydrocarbon flow from the formation and through the propped fracture, resulting in lower production over time. The res-free fluid offers better cleanup when breaking than guar-based fluids; therefore, it offers significantly higher proppant pack conductivity and formation permeability in laboratory testing.The res-free polymer exhibits sensitivity to certain ions present in the solution, both in terms of gel hydration and crosslinking behavior. Depending on the ions present in the water and their respective concentrations, manipulation of the crosslinked res-free fluid system chemical formulation can mitigate these effects and achieve a stable, highly viscous fluid suitable for hydraulic fracturing. This paper investigates whether the necessary reformulations impact the regained permeability and conductivity of the fluid system. Rheological data demonstrating how the reformulated fluid compares to standard formulations is presented. Additionally, test results are presented highlighting the effects of alternative water sources on res-free fluid regained permeability and conductivity data.The use of produced and flowback waters for fracturing operations can substantially reduce both the economic and environmental impact of fracturing operations. The combination of the res-free fluid's ability to use these water sources and its excellent damage-reducing properties provides a system with significant advantages compared to conventional technologies in many applications.

As water management becomes a more prominent aspect of completion and production strategies within the oil and gas industry, some operators use flowback and produced water in place of fresh water during fracturing operations. These strategies help reduce the volume of fresh water used, thus lowering the environmental impact during completion and production operations. Because the highly optimized legacy formulations that provide optimal proppant transport have been formulated with relatively pure water sources, using flowback and produced water (which can contain dissolved minerals from the formation or byproducts of spent fracturing fluid) can prove challenging when trying to obtain predictable fracturing fluid properties. Reusing flowback or produced water typically involves reformulating the fracturing fluid through optimization for the specific source water, which can be a time-intensive process with high uncertainty associated with limited design experiments. This paper presents a method for determining the chemical formulation to achieve a specific viscosity and time profile for a fracturing fluid based on the chemical constituents of the source water. The process uses neural network as a basis for modeling fracturing fluid viscosity over time after mixing. Once the viscosity is calculated from the empirical formulation, the chemical components are re-estimated through inverse neural network models to validate the previous selection. The optimization of the fluid formulation is implemented with a multiobjective genetic algorithm to determine the best selection of chemical components necessary for producing a specific viscosity profile. The results from the fluid simulations and actual testing are also discussed to demonstrate the different applications.

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