Technological progress and prospects of reservoir stimulation

• Main Authors: Qun LEI, Baoshan GUAN, Bo CAI, Xin WANG, Yun XU, Zheng TONG, Haiyan WANG, Haifeng FU, Ze LIU, Zhen WANG
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2019-06-01
• Series: Petroleum Exploration and Development
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876380419600406

Through reviewing the development history of reservoir hydraulic fracturing technology, this paper demonstrated the latest research progress at home and abroad and summarized six technical gaps between China and the world, that is fracture propagation mechanism, fracturing software development, fracturing vehicle equipment, downhole tools temperature and pressure resistance, proppant replacement and big data information database. The technical difficulties include lack of geological-engineering deep integration, unclear factors on horizontal well multi-fracture propagation, difficulty in reducing construction costs, environment protection pressure, lack of new experimental and field test equipment, immature techniques for fracturing fluid, and low efficacy of factorized fracturing equipment. We proposed six suggestions on China's future reservoir hydraulic fracturing technology: (1) strengthen the mechanism study of unconventional reservoir hydraulic fracturing; (2) accelerate the development of geological-engineering integration software; (3) promote the upgrading of EOR fracturing techniques; (4) carry out low-cost multi-functional fracturing fluid formula experiment; (5) complete high-efficiency fracturing equipment; (6) build big database, informational and remote decision-making system of hydraulic fracturing. Keywords: unconventional reservoirs, hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing equipment, hydraulic fracturing materials, hydraulic fracturing design, remote decision-making, technological progress