In recent years several papers have been written on the merits of fracture stimulation with crosslinked methanol. While crosslinked methanol has been available to the industry since the late 1980's, only in recent years has it been successfully and routinely utilized in the continental United States. In areas such as the Permian Basin it was thought that the best application for crosslinked methanol would be in older wells, or in new wells drilled in under-pressured Morrow reservoirs. It was not until the case history wells in this study had been treated that the fluid was proven to be successful on new and relatively undamaged Morrow reservoirs.

This paper will discuss the fluid system with focus on recent refinements in fluid chemistry. Special attention will be given to standard procedures implemented to ensure the system is pumped safely. An overview of the reservoirs where crosslinked methanol has been applied successfully, along with treatment parameters will be discussed. Finally, a production study of the case history wells relative to offset Morrow producers will be reviewed.

Keywords:
mscf, fracturing materials, upstream oil & gas, fluid system, methanol, crosslinked methanol, methanol treatment, crosslinked methanol treatment, fracturing fluid, reservoir
Subjects:
Hydraulic Fracturing, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Fracturing materials (fluids, proppant), Flow in porous media
Copyright 2004, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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