The First Experience of Rod-Shaped Proppant Implementation in Western Siberia Oil Fields

Abstract The most efficient way of production enhancement is the hydraulic fracturing which has proven efficient in majority of the fields in Western Siberia and over the world. Despite wide stimulation experience in the Siberian region there are still some unresolved issues. One is the proppant flowback, a root cause of well equipment damage and also reduction in conductivity of the fracture itself. One of the ways to prevent the problem is the usage of resin-coated proppant (RCP). However there is a disadvantage of this method - agglomeration of polymeric material reduces fracture conductivity in the near-wellbore area. Since 2013 a pilot campaign with the usage of rod-shaped proppant has started in a region. This unique product has two main advantages over a classical spherical proppant: enhanced conductivity of a proppant pack and inherited proppant flow back prevention. Due to the rod-shaped form of the particles, pack has improved stability. Comparison of conductivity tests for different proppants shows that rod-shaped proppant outperforms conventional ones typically used in the region. This also leads to better fluid and polymer recovery and results in increased effective fracture length, hence in substantial production enhancement. There are 9 oil fields near Langepas a city in Khanty-Mansiysk district. These oil fields are at the latest stage of development: decreasing production rates and recovery of the most part of resources. Drilling has shifted to edge zones of the reservoirs and wells start-up is challenging due to low production rates (small net pays and low values of permeability and porosity). At the moment rod-shaped proppant has been successfully implemented in 4 wells on Jurassic and Achimov formation and the first positive results have been obtained - no proppant flow-backs detected and wells productivity enhanced by 20%. Detailed results of the first project with rod-shaped proppant application in Western Siberia (Russia), including a comprehensive analysis of well production performance, are covered in this paper.