DESARROLLO Y FABRICACIÓN DE UN AGENTE DE SOSTÉN TRAZABLE EN ARGENTINA Y SU APLICACIÓN EN UN POZO DE TIGHT GAS DEL YACIMIENTO RIO NEUQUÉN

HERRERA, MARIA SILVIA; SOFÍA RIVELLI LAVALLEN; RICARDO ANAYA; EDUARDO GILABERT; ROBERTO BACH

Congreso; CONEXPLO; 2022

In the hydraulic stimulation process, the geometry generated after fracture is unknown. Commonly, the available information is the result of fracture simulations that contemplate the mechanical properties and characteristics of the reservoir, obtained from the interpretation of open hole.When in doubt, certain zones of interest may not be stimulated due to unknown stress regimes, formation anomalies, and/or perforation performance related problems, the use of a detectable proppant by conventional neutron logging tools, allows to estimate the minimum effective vertical extension of the stimulated zone.Y-TEC has developed a resin-coated proppant with addition of gadolinium oxide, which is a material that can be detected in the near wellbore using neutron logging tools. This product is the first resin-coated proppant developed and produced on a large scale in Argentina, and it has the possibility of using different meshes and substrates (natural sands and ceramic proppants).The product has been thoroughly evaluated in accordance with API/ISO international standards for proppants. Furthermore, the concentration and distribution of gadolinium in the resin layer were determined by ICP-OES spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, respectively.The proppant was field tested in a tight gas well located at the Neuquén Basin, where 60 tons of product were pumped in two stages. Proppant placement was determined comparing pre- and post-stimulation profiles of the Dry Weight gadolinium log. The test result shows that resin-coated proppant added with gadolinium can be used to evaluate propped fractures height using a pulsed neutron tool. Additionally, these data allowed the evaluation of the perforation strategy currently used in the reservoir.