LPG Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale Using Public Domain Information

Abstract

Abstract In the late summer of 2009 an American oil and gas producer teamed up with a Canadian pumping service company and performed a series of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) fracturing treatments in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. A total of four stages were pumped on three different vertical wells in three different counties Centre, Lycoming, and Indiana. Questions surrounding damage associated with pumping large volumes of fresh water in nano-to-micro Darcy shale along with environmental pressures about water supply and disposal led to consideration of an alternative, non-aqueous fracturing fluid. A hydraulic fracturing process utilizing 100% LPG as a fracturing fluid to carry proppant into shale or a coal seam or other water sensitive pay zone was developed. The new LPG fluid could be easily viscosified with oil gelling chemicals allowing for excellent proppant transport. LPG was an appealing choice of fracturing fluid because its phase behavior in the Marcellus Shale at bottomhole conditions would theoretically render it non-damaging. The fracturing process brought sand into the gelled LPG so that it could be pumped under high pressure and into created fracture geometry in a pay zone. With respect to well cleanup post-frac LPG held the promise of greater cleanup and improved effective fracture half-lengths. This paper will provide details about the LPG fracs and the resulting production response using a mix of readily available public domain information and information obtained by service providers or vendors. Initially, it was author's intention to use only public data but changes in the local market made access to more information available. A comparison of LPG fracturing treatments with slickwater treated wells will be shown for two of the three wells. Concluding remarks will discuss the current state of LPG fracturing in North America and a possible explanation for production results that did not meet expectations.