Rock Mechanical Principles Help to Predict Proppant Flowback From Hydraulic Fractures

Abstract

Abstract Propped hydraulic fracture stimulation is widely used to improve field economics. After treatment some fractures have been found to produce proppant back to surface and this can limit the economic gains from the stimulation. In this paper an analysis of laboratory flowback tests is presented in the form of a 3D stability surface. This enables prediction of when initial flowback occurs for plain proppant. Numerical modeling techniques are introduced that can be used to determine the quantity of produced proppant. For the field application of interest, the calculated proppant volumes compare well with that recovered from the first two fracture jobs. The effectiveness of curable Resin Coated Proppants (RCP) is studied by computer simulation. The approach is the same as that taken when making sand production predictions in clastic reservoirs. Laboratory testing is presented to support the conclusions from the simulation work. P. 381