3M Offers New Generation Proppants for Hydraulic Fracturing

摘要

One of the new areas of development for 3M are additives for hydraulic fracturing with ultra-lightweight (with a density of 1.05 grams per cubic centimeter) prop-pants whose density is close to the density of water (1 grams per cubic centimeter). This property gives ultra-lightweight proppants neutral buoyancy, which will hold the proppant in solution of water without precipitating. Ultra-lightweight proppants easily reach the farthest ends of the fractures in it and reliably fix there. New genera- tion proppants are deformable and durable (they withstand pressure of up to 8,000 PSI) and these properties allow them to securely fix the fracture in the open position, without destroying the proppants. Another very important feature of the newly created fracture is its conductivity, the higher the fracture conductivity, the more oil will be extracted from the well.