Weatherford introduces new 100% produced-water fracturing fluids

Fracturing projects average more than 4.75 million gallons (113 100 bbls) of fresh water per well. Once used downhole and returned to surface, that water requires treatment and injecting into an underground storage well. The Weatherford WaterSure fluid system – which enables fracturing with 100% produced or flowback water from the well – is an environmentally friendly, cost-saving alternative to conventional methods.

Multiple benefits

This fluid system can end the dependence on the availability of fresh water and eliminate the downtime, costs, logistics, fuel consumption, and emissions associated with delivering fresh water to a wellsite or transporting produced water offsite for treatment.

The fluid system uses filtered or un-filtered water with minimal to no chemical treatment. The water is oxidised and treated with chloride dioxide (ClO₂) to kill well-souring bacteria, help decrease reservoir pressure, and help improve the permeability, wetness, and porosity of the formation. The prepped water is combined with an environmentally friendly gelling agent and crosslinked to create fluids with excellent proppant transport and conductivity. The resulting fluids can then maintain high, closely controlled viscosity levels sufficient to carry proppant during long periods of exposure to high temperatures and bottomhole pressures.

Adapted from press release by Cecilia Rehn

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/04022015/weatherford-introduces-new-100-produced-water-fracturing-fluids/