Earl R Freeman
PropTester Inc.
Abstract:
Qualifying Proppant Performance
Qualifying proppant performance prior to a frac job, or simply verifying proppant performance after a frac job, can add significant value to propped fracture stimulations. Through a blend of established practices and new technology, data can be generated that will give an engineer insight into how specific proppants are designed to perform. This is without running expensive and time consuming conductivity and permeability tests on every job.
A primary objective is to establish representative, reliable and reproducible data via a sample collected from a large mass. American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practices identify three primary tenets:
- representative sampling from a flowing stream
- standardized testing with calibrated equipment
- sample retention for follow-up evaluation
Application of these practices ensures that proppant test data is valid (representative, reliable, and reproducible). These practices alone typically quantify quality but do not qualify proppant performance.
Correlation of valid well-site proppant data with published information (literature, web-sites, or fracturing simulators) enables one to identify disparities. Any differences in part may be the result of mining anomalies, manufacturing defects, transportation abuse, and/or contamination. These can directly impact the delivered performance of your chosen proppant. Since proppant flow capacity or conductivity is a key measure of that performance, some empirical results have been assimilated for well-site and public data.
As a consumer, having information that describes the proppant at the well-site is important to deciding application and value. By compiling historical well-site proppant data one can set a minimum threshold of required properties or specification. This provides the opportunity to identify a greater range of proppants that meet reservoir, economic, and supply chain needs.
Biography:
Mr. Freeman is Executive Vice President of PropTester Inc. He has more than 30 years of experience in research, product development, engineering, operations, sales, and management. He previously was Sales & Marketing Manager, Oilfield Technology Group, Borden Chemical Inc., and prior to that with Western Company of North America and BJ Services. Freeman holds a BS from the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a recipient of region service awards from Mid-Continent and Southwestern SPE Regions and was honored as an SPE distinguished member in 2004. Mr. Freeman currently chairs the SPE Public Service Award committee. Freeman has authored 2 United States patents and several SPE papers on fracturing & cementing.
|
