An Interpretation of Proppant Transport Within the Stimulated Rock Volume at the Hydraulic-Fracturing Test Site in the Permian Basin

Abstract

Summary We collected more than 500 ft of through-fracture core in the Upper Wolfcamp (UWC) and Middle Wolfcamp (MWC) formations in the Permian Basin. As part of core characterization, we analyzed the core-sludge samples for the presence of proppant and natural-calcite particles. Apart from sample preparation and imaging, we designed and developed a novel image-processing work flow to detect and classify the particles. We used the observations from the identified particle distribution within the stimulated rock volume to understand proppant-transport behavior. We used relative distributions of smaller 100-mesh- and larger 40/70-mesh-proppant particles to interpret proppant placement in relation to perforation clusters. Finally, we used the relative distribution of particles to understand the interaction between natural and hydraulic fractures. We observe that stress variations and the degree of natural fracturing have a bearing on local proppant-screenout behavior. Smaller 100-mesh proppant seems to dominate at larger lateral offsets from the hydraulically fractured wells. We also observe indications of heel-side bias according to lateral proppant distribution. We share our work flow for particle detection and classification, which can serve as a template for proppant analysis in the future if significant through-fracture cores are collected in similar field experiments.