Fracturing Oil Shale with Explosives for <i>in Situ</i> Recovery

Miller, John S.; Johansen, R.T.

doi:10.1021/ba-1976-0151.ch008

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…One of those earliest explosive fracturing technologies started in 1964 (Miller and Johansen, 1976), nitroglycerin and TNT were detonated in small 5-spot wells that were 60-100 feet deep to fragment oil shale formations in Wyoming. Extensive fractures were formed to a radius of 90 feet and significant airflow enhancement up to 800% was measured from different oil shale wells, Page 5 of 37 enabling sustained in-situ combustion.…”

Section: Explosive and Propellant Fracturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waterless fracturing technologies for unconventional reservoirs-opportunities for liquid nitrogen

Wang

Yao

Cha

et al. 2016

Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

188

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During the past two decades, hydraulic fracturing has significantly improved oil and gas production from shale and tight sandstone reservoirs in the United States and elsewhere.Considering formation damage, water consumption, and environmental impacts associated with water-based fracturing fluids, efforts have been devoted to developing waterless fracturing technologies because of their potential to alleviate these issues. Herein, key theories and features of waterless fracturing technologies, including Oil-based and CO 2 energized oil fracturing, explosive and propellant fracturing, gelled LPG and alcohol fracturing, gas fracturing, CO 2 fracturing, and cryogenic fracturing, are reviewed. We then experimentally elaborate on the efficacy of liquid nitrogen in enhancing fracture initiation and propagation in concrete samples, and shale and sandstone reservoir rocks. In our laboratory study, cryogenic fractures generated were qualitatively and quantitatively characterized by pressure decay tests, acoustic measurements, gas fracturing, and CT scans. The capacity and applicability of cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen are demonstrated and examined. By properly formulating the technical procedures for field implementation, cryogenic fracturing using liquid nitrogen could be an advantageous option for fracturing unconventional reservoirs.

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Section: Explosive and Propellant Fracturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Waterless fracturing technologies for unconventional reservoirs-opportunities for liquid nitrogen

Wang

Yao

Cha

et al. 2016

Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

188

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“…Investigating, realizing and thereby predicting hydraulic conductivity through explosively created fracture networks are of fundamental importance in geothermal energy resources (Austin and Leonard, 1973), in situ recovery of oil shale (Miller and Johansen, 1974; Miller and Johansen, 1976; Grady et al , 1980; McHugh and Keough, 1982), in situ coal gasification (Moody, 1978; Butkovich et al , 1979; Zhu et al , 2013; Zhu et al , 2016; Ye et al , 2017; Yang et al , 2019), in situ recovery of hydrocarbon and mineral resources (Carter, 1978; Adams et al , 1981), oil/gas well stimulation technologies (Eakin and Miller, 1967; McKee and Hanson, 1975; Li and Xue, 2000; Guo et al , 2014; Liu et al , 2018; Li et al , 2018; Li et al , 2018; Venkatesh et al , 2019; Hou et al , 2019), underground nuclear waste repositories (Jordan et al , 2015) and sandstone type uranium mines (Yuan et al , 2018). High-energy explosive fracturing has been shown to be more appropriate and cost effective than hydraulic fracturing for specific applications and has demonstrated more technical efficiency and productivity for extremely low permeability reservoirs (Guo et al , 2014; Li et al , 2018; Hou et al , 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topology and hydraulic permeability estimation of explosively created fractures through regular cylindrical pore network models

Gharehdash

Sainsbury

Barzegar

et al. 2021

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Purpose This research study aims to develop regular cylindrical pore network models (RCPNMs) to calculate topology and geometry properties of explosively created fractures along with their resulting hydraulic permeability. The focus of the investigation is to define a method that generates a valid geometric and topologic representation from a computational modelling point of view for explosion-generated fractures in rocks. In particular, extraction of geometries from experimentally validated Eulerian smoothed particle hydrodynamics (ESPH) approach, to avoid restrictions for image-based computational methods. Design/methodology/approach Three-dimensional stabilized ESPH solution is required to model explosively created fracture networks, and the accuracy of developed ESPH is qualitatively and quantitatively examined against experimental observations for both peak detonation pressures and crack density estimations. SPH simulation domain is segmented to void and solid spaces using a graphical user interface, and the void space of blasted rocks is represented by a regular lattice of spherical pores connected by cylindrical throats. Results produced by the RCPNMs are compared to three pore network extraction algorithms. Thereby, once the accuracy of RCPNMs is confirmed, the absolute permeability of fracture networks is calculated. Findings The results obtained with RCPNMs method were compared with three pore network extraction algorithms and computational fluid dynamics method, achieving a more computational efficiency regarding to CPU cost and a better geometry and topology relationship identification, in all the cases studied. Furthermore, a reliable topology data that does not have image-based pore network limitations, and the effect of topological disorder on the computed absolute permeability is minor. However, further research is necessary to improve the interpretation of real pore systems for explosively created fracture networks. Practical implications Although only laboratory cylindrical rock specimens were tested in the computational examples, the developed approaches are applicable for field scale and complex pore network grids with arbitrary shapes. Originality/value It is often desirable to develop an integrated computational method for hydraulic conductivity of explosively created fracture networks which segmentation of fracture networks is not restricted to X-ray images, particularly when topologic and geometric modellings are the crucial parts. This research study provides insight to the reliable computational methods and pore network extraction algorithm selection processes, as well as defining a practical framework for generating reliable topological and geometrical data in a Eulerian SPH setting.

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Hydraulic fracturing stimulation

Liang¹

2022

Fluid Chemistry, Drilling and Completion

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Fracturing Oil Shale with Explosives for in Situ Recovery

Cited by 7 publications

References 5 publications

Waterless fracturing technologies for unconventional reservoirs-opportunities for liquid nitrogen

Waterless fracturing technologies for unconventional reservoirs-opportunities for liquid nitrogen

Topology and hydraulic permeability estimation of explosively created fractures through regular cylindrical pore network models

Hydraulic fracturing stimulation

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