Successful Implementation of Fiber-Laden Fluid for Hydraulic Fracturing of Jurassic Formations in Western Siberia

The Urnenskoe field is located in the Tyumen region, Western Siberia. The main production target is the J1 formation belonging to the upper Jurassic Vasyugansk suite. Subsurface geology of the Urnenskoe field features the lithological heterogeneity of the J1 formation with high- and low-permeability interlayers and considerable petroleum reserves in upper low-permeability formation intervals. Oil and water have highly different viscosities permitting rapid water breakthrough into the formation. The first hydraulic fracturing operations were carried out at the Urnenskoe field in 2010. Because there are rich oilsaturated zones in the low-permeability upper zone of the reservoir, the properties of the fracturing fluid to transport proppant and its ability to prevent settling during both the pumping and when the fracture is closing are decisive for the well productivity after the fracturing operation. Fracturing fluid with degradable fibers was selected to achieve these properties during hydraulic fracturing. The fibers create a reinforcing net within the fracturing fluid with proppant and mechanically assist the transportation and suspension of the proppant grains. The temperature decomposes the fibers when the fracture is closed. In addition, the fibers allow lowering the polymer concentration in the fracturing fluid, thus enabling control of the fracture vertical growth and decreasing proppant pack damage. Since there are no all-season roads and it is difficult to approach the Urnenskoe field in the summer, there was no fracturing fleet capable of performing an operation utilizing the fluid with degradable fibers in July 2011. Therefore, 7 conventional fracturing operations were performed; these can be used to compare the effectiveness of conventional fracturing with another 23 operations in which the fibers were used. These operations revealed that the wells in which the fibers were used had a dimensionless productivity index that was 33% higher, and this effect remained stable. Also, for the wells with the fiber application, the average cumulative oil production for 5 months was 2,245 tons higher (recalculated for one well). These results confirm the effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing with degradable fibers in the Urnenskoe field. The successful experience of using hydraulic fracturing with degradable fibers at the Urnenskoe field, laboratory tests of the fiber-laden fluid, analysis of well productivity, and particular applications of the technology provide information to guide further optimization. In addition, the technology has been applied in the Jurassic formations of the neighboring Ust-Tegusskoe field, where a considerable productivity gain was achieved compared with the conventional fracturing operations.