Abstract
For decades most proppant development efforts concentrated on developing proppants that could either cope with higher stress and deliver higher conductivity or improve proppant transport via lower density, while minimal effort was put in adding other functionalities. Lately it has been recognized that placement of proppant into the formation brings a unique opportunity of conveying new functions, additional to the primary roles of keeping the frac mechanically open and providing a conductive path for production enhancement. This approach enables reducing the total cost of ownership of addressing multiple completion, data acquisition production assurance and surveillance issues by deploying multifunctional proppants in the well initial completion.
Specialty functions can be incorporated into manmade proppants during the industrial manufacturing process, thereby exploiting the placement opportunity brought by hydraulic fracturing, gravel or frack pack completions involving proppant. These functions might include assuring flow in the production system, solving formation fines production, providing reservoir surveillance or monitoring fracture properties.
This paper reviews the latest technology developments that enable the incorporation of these functions into proppants, including how the new proppant delivered technologies permit users to cost effectively deploy additional functionalities in the initial completion of hydraulically fractured, frac-packed and gravel-packed wells. The paper will also present recent case histories of field implementations of these technologies In the Sultanate of Oman which illustrate how these high function proppants can reduce overall operating costs, enhance production and diagnose hydraulic fractures. The field implementation works on this paper is as result of joint study collaboration cross technical disciplines between operator, service company and proppant technology supplier, to find appropriate solution for reservoirs and completion challenges on various fields at Oman.
