New Tracers Identify Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids and Accidental Releases from Oil and Gas Operations

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (21) ◽  
pp. 12552-12560 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. R. Warner ◽  
T. H. Darrah ◽  
R. B. Jackson ◽  
R. Millot ◽  
W. Kloppmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Fracturing Fluids ◽  
Oil And Gas Operations ◽  
Accidental Releases

scholarly journals Drafting Canadian Oilfield Master Service Agreements: An Overview of Key Clauses and Market Trends

10.29173/alr2 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Trent Mercier ◽  
Josh Kane ◽  
Sharbil Nammour
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Service Provider ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Relevant Market ◽  
Fundamental Component ◽  
Oil And Gas Operations ◽  
Market Trends ◽  
Service Agreement

A cohesive master service agreement is a fundamental component of the operator–service provider relationship for the provision of oilfield services for upstream oil and gas operations. This article: explores the sometimes unique contract relationships found in the Canadian marketplace; provides an overview of key contentious issues and potential solutions, which are examined and contrasted with those seen in American and international contracts; and identifies recent relevant market trends, including special considerations for large-scale hydraulic fracturing operations and the perspectives of new international operators entering the Canadian marketplace.

United States Experience Regulating Unconventional Oil and Gas Development

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edith Allison
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Oil And Gas Development ◽  
Unconventional Oil ◽  
Oil And Gas Operations ◽  
Unconventional Oil And Gas

ABSTRACT In the midst of aggressive anti-drilling campaigns by environmental organizations and well-publicized complaints by citizens unaccustomed to oil and gas operations, rigorous studies of unconventional oil and gas development show that there are no widespread or systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States. In addition, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have significantly declined with the growth in natural gas production and its use in power generation. Furthermore, induced seismicity from subsurface waste disposal has plummeted in response to industry initiatives and new regulations. This record of environmental protection reflects the fact that U.S. hydraulic fracturing, like other oil and gas operations, is highly regulated by the states. In addition, air emissions, operations on federal lands, and subsurface injection are subject to federal regulation. Academic and government researchers have documented that chemicals and gas produced by hydraulic fracturing are not contaminating drinking water. However, as an added complication, methane occurs naturally in drinking water aquifers in some producing areas. In 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed a four-year study of potential aquifer contamination from hydraulic fracturing and associated industry operations. The report found some impacts on drinking water including contamination of drinking water wells; however, the number of cases was small compared to the number of wells hydraulically fractured. The scientific peer-review and public critique of the study, which continues after more than a year, may recommend additional research. The emotionally charged, anti-fracking campaigns provided important lessons to U.S. operators: pre-drilling, baseline data on water and air quality are essential to answering public concerns; infrastructure issues such as increased truck traffic on small, local roads are important to residents; and the initial failure to disclose the composition of hydraulic fracturing fluid intensified public concern.

scholarly journals In situ transformation of hydraulic fracturing surfactants from well injection to produced water

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 1777-1786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon C. McAdams ◽  
Kimberly E. Carter ◽  
Jens Blotevogel ◽  
Thomas Borch ◽  
J. Alexandra Hakala
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Unconventional Reservoirs ◽  
Oil And Gas Development ◽  
Hydrocarbon Recovery ◽  
Fracturing Fluids ◽  
Unconventional Oil And Gas

Chemical changes to hydraulic fracturing fluids within fractured unconventional reservoirs may affect hydrocarbon recovery and, in turn, the environmental impact of unconventional oil and gas development.

scholarly journals Experimental Study of Sulfonate Gemini Surfactants as Thickeners for Clean Fracturing Fluids

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shanfa Tang ◽  
Yahui Zheng ◽  
Weipeng Yang ◽  
Jiaxin Wang ◽  
Yingkai Fan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Gemini Surfactant ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Gemini Surfactants ◽  
Insoluble Residue ◽  
Fracturing Fluid ◽  
Temperature Resistance ◽  
Fracturing Fluids ◽  
Secondary Damage ◽  
Sulfonate Gemini Surfactant

Hydraulic fracturing is one of the important methods to improve oil and gas production. The performance of the fracturing fluid directly affects the success of hydraulic fracturing. The traditional cross-linked polymer fracturing fluid can cause secondary damage to oil and gas reservoirs due to the poor flow-back of the fracturing fluid, and existing conventional cleaning fracturing fluids have poor performance in high temperature. Therefore, this paper has carried out research on novel sulfonate Gemini surfactant cleaning fracturing fluids. The rheological properties of a series of sulfonate Gemini surfactant (DSm-s-m) solutions at different temperatures and constant shear rate (170 s−1) were tested for optimizing the temperature-resistance and thickening properties of anionic Gemini surfactants in clean fracturing fluid. At the same time, the microstructures of solutions were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The experimental results showed that the viscosity of the sulfonate Gemini surfactant solution varied with the spacer group and the hydrophobic chain at 65 °C and 170 s−1, wherein DS18-3-18 had excellent viscosity-increasing properties. Furthermore, the microstructure of 4 wt.% DS18-3-18 solution demonstrated that DS18-3-18 self-assembled into dense layered micelles, and the micelles intertwined with each other to form the network structure, promoting the increase in solution viscosity. Adding nano-MgO can increase the temperature-resistance of 4 wt.% DS18-3-18 solution, which indicated that the rod-like and close-packed layered micelles were beneficial to the improvement of the temperature-resistance and thickening performances of the DS18-3-18 solution. DS18-3-18 was not only easy to formulate, but also stable in all aspects. Due to its low molecular weight, the damage to the formation was close to zero and the insoluble residue was almost zero because of the absence of breaker, so it could be used as a thickener for clean fracturing fluids in tight reservoirs.

Induced Seismicity in the Delaware Basin, West Texas, is Caused by Hydraulic Fracturing and Wastewater Disposal

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (5) ◽  
pp. 2225-2241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandros Savvaidis ◽  
Anthony Lomax ◽  
Caroline Breton
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Daily Basis ◽  
Fort Worth ◽  
Wastewater Disposal ◽  
Delaware Basin ◽  
West Texas ◽  
Oil And Gas Operations ◽  
Epicentral Location ◽  
Different Sources

ABSTRACT Most current seismicity in the southern U.S. midcontinent is related to oil and gas operations (O&G Ops). In Texas, although recorded earthquakes are of low-to-moderate magnitude, the rate of seismicity has been increasing since 2009. Because of the newly developed Texas Seismological Network, in most parts of Texas, recent seismicity is reported on a daily basis with a magnitude of completeness of ML 1.5. Also, funded research has allowed the collection of O&G Op information that can be associated with seismicity. Although in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, recent seismicity has been associated mostly with saltwater disposal (SWD), in the South Delaware Basin, West Texas, both hydraulic fracturing (HF) and SWD have been found to be causal factors. We have begun to establish an O&G Op database using four different sources—IHS, FracFocus, B3, and the Railroad Commission of Texas—with which we can associate recent seismicity to HF and SWD. Our approach is based on time and epicentral location of seismic events and time, location of HF, and SWD. Most seismicity occurs in areas of dense HF and SWD-well activity overlapping in time, making association of seismicity with a specific well type impossible. However, through examination of clustered seismicity in space and time, along with isolated clusters of spatiotemporal association between seismicity and O&G Ops, we are able to show that a causation between HF and seismicity may be favored over causation with SWD wells in areas of spatially isolated earthquake clusters (Toyah South, Reeves West, Jeff Davis Northeast, and Jeff Davis East). Causality between SWD and seismicity may be inferred for isolated cases in Reeves South and Grisham West.

Effect of Fluid Compressibility on Toughness-Dominated Hydraulic Fractures With Leakoff

SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (06) ◽  
pp. 2118-2132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Di Wang ◽  
Mian Chen ◽  
Yan Jin ◽  
Andrew. P. Bunger
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Hydraulic Fracture ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
Fracturing Fluids ◽  
Fracture Shape ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
Fracture Growth ◽  
Fluid Compressibility

Summary Hydraulic fracturing using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) has a recognized potential to grow in importance for unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. It is characterized by higher compressibility than traditional liquid-phase hydraulic-fracturing fluids. Motivated by the larger compressibility of supercritical CO2, this paper considers the problem of a hydraulic fracture in which a compressible fluid is injected at a constant rate to drive a hydraulic fracture in a permeable and brittle rock. The two cases of a plane-strain fracture and a penny-shaped fracture are considered. It is shown that for many practical cases, the formation has a large enough fracture toughness that the propagation is in a regime for which the pressure inside the hydraulic fracture can be treated as spatially uniform (“toughness dominated”). Both numerical simulations and analytical solutions for the relevant limiting regimes show that fluid compressibility affects fracture shape only at the very beginning period, which corresponds to the storage regime, and has little effect on fracture growth in the leakoff regime. Overall, because the transition from the storage regime to the leakoff regime is expected to often take place in a short time after the fracture starts propagating, the influence of compressibility in the storage regime is very brief and can be quickly ignored. Therefore, even relatively sizable fluid compressibility has almost no effect on fracture growth in the toughness-dominated regime when leakoff is taken into account.

scholarly journals Review of Geochemical and Geo-Mechanical Impact of Clay-Fluid Interactions Relevant to Hydraulic Fracturing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Adua Awejori ◽  
Mileva Radonjic
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Clay Minerals ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Petroleum Systems ◽  
Fracturing Fluids ◽  
New Research

Shale rocks are an integral part of petroleum systems. Though, originally viewed primarily as source and seal rocks, introduction of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies have essentially redefined the role of shale rocks in unconventional reservoirs. In the geological setting, the deposition, formation and transformation of sedimentary rocks are characterised by interactions between their clay components and formation fluids at subsurface elevated temperatures and pressures. The main driving forces in evolution of any sedimentary rock formation are geochemistry (chemistry of solids and fluids) and geomechanics (earth stresses). During oil and gas production, clay minerals are exposed to engineered fluids, which initiate further reactions with significant implications. Application of hydraulic fracturing in shale formations also means exposure and reaction between shale clay minerals and hydraulic fracturing fluids. This chapter presents an overview of currently available published literature on interactions between formation clay minerals and fluids in the subsurface. The overview is particularly focused on the geochemical and geomechanical impacts of interactions between formation clays and hydraulic fracturing fluids, with the goal to identify knowledge gaps and new research questions on the subject.

Modeling and experimental investigation of the evolution of altered zones at the shale-fluid interface

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hang Deng ◽  
Sergi Molins ◽  
Carl Steefel ◽  
John Bargar ◽  
Adam Jew ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Reactive Transport ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Fracture Permeability ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Fracturing Fluids ◽  
The Matrix

<p>Unconventional oil and gas production involves the use of acidic hydraulic fracturing fluids that interact with the rock matrix bordering the fractures. As a result, fracture permeability and mass transfer between the matrix and the fracture can be altered, affecting production performance. The evolution of the altered zones are controlled by the gradients of pH and concentrations of various species perpendicular to the fracture-matrix interface, mineral reactions in the matrix as the reactive fluid diffuse into the matrix, and potential mineral coating on the fracture surface where the matrix fluid and fracture fluid mix. In this study, we use reactive transport model to investigate the evolution of the altered zones bordering the fractures. The simulations are based on batch and fracture flow experiments of shales and syntheized hydraulic fracturing fluids. Through the simulations, we quantify the reaction front of different mineral phases and the change of local porosity, and examine their dependence on mineral composition and fluid chemistry. We also discuss the impacts of the altered zones on matrix diffusivity and fracture permeability.</p>

Shale, Quakes, and High Stakes: Regulating Fracking-Induced Seismicity in Oklahoma, USA and Lancashire, UK

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Miriam R. Aczel ◽  
Karen E. Makuch
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Seismic Activity ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
High Volume ◽  
The United States ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Induced Seismic Activity

High-volume hydraulic fracturing combined with horizontal drilling has “revolutionized” the United States’ oil and gas industry by allowing extraction of previously inaccessible oil and gas trapped in shale rock [1]. Although the United States has extracted shale gas in different states for several decades, the United Kingdom is in the early stages of developing its domestic shale gas resources, in the hopes of replicating the United States’ commercial success with the technologies [2, 3]. However, the extraction of shale gas using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling poses potential risks to the environment and natural resources, human health, and communities and local livelihoods. Risks include contamination of water resources, air pollution, and induced seismic activity near shale gas operation sites. This paper examines the regulation of potential induced seismic activity in Oklahoma, USA, and Lancashire, UK, and concludes with recommendations for strengthening these protections.

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