Depending On Guar For Shale Oil And Gas Development

Abstract

Matador, a guar variety jointly owned by Texas Tech University and Halliburton, is grown as a breeders' seed increase (i.e., to increase the amount of seed available) at the Texas Tech campus farm at Lubbock, Texas. Guar is a modest-looking shrubby plant. Primarily grown in India and Pakistan, it is known there as a “poor-man’s crop,” according to Calvin Trostle, associate professor and extension agronomist, Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center in Lubbock, Texas. This stepchild crop has risen in importance during the last few years as the source of an important ingredient that makes high-viscosity (as opposed to slickwater) hydraulic fracturing as effective and cost-effective a process as it is. This ingredient is known as guar gum. Made from the endosperm of the guar seed, which is ground into a fine powder, a tiny concentration of guar gum interacts quickly with hydraulic fracturing water to thicken it. In simple terms, guar gum renders the water viscous and thus capable of evenly suspending and carrying proppant deep into the fractures that are created with the enormous pressures of the pumped water. Its biopolymeric viscosity properties also help reduce friction and augment water pressure. No guar substitute has yet been developed that is as effective for high-viscosity hydraulic fracturing, although Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Schlumberger, FTS International, or their affiliates, as well as the chemical company Dupont, are working on developing synthetic polymers whose properties might rival those of guar gum. According to Mickey Callanan, president of PfP Technology, “Guar is a perfect material for hydraulic fracturing.” He cites the following elements that guar gum brings to bear: Available in large amounts Availability currently not limited Affordable, low cost Superior thickening agent Excellent friction reducer Crosslinkable Breakable Biodegradable Trostle says reported oilfield services industry numbers suggest that an average amount of guar gum required to hydraulically fracture one well could be as much as 20,000 lb. That is the equivalent of about 100 acres of average-yielding west Texas dry-land guar production (at 750 lb/acre). Guar gum is also used as an ingredient in drilling fluids and enhanced-oil-recovery methods, though not as consistently or in such vast quantities as for hydraulic fracturing. Arguably, without guar, shale gas and oil development would not be burgeoning nearly to the extent it is. Humble Beginnings to Today’s Prominence Although guar pods (with the seeds inside them), which grow in clusters on the plant, are used for human consumption, the traditional use of guar has been for cattle feed. In fact, according to Sudhir Merchant, chairman and chief executive officer of Encore Natural Polymers of Ahmedabad, India, in India “gaw – har” means “cattle – food.”