Hydraulic Fracturing –
What is it –
and how to do it right
Sixth Annual Andrews Kurth Moot Court
National Championship Symposium
Stephen A. Holditch
January 23, 2014
Outline
• What are unconventional reservoirs?
• What is hydraulic fracturing?
• How can unconventional reservoirs be
developed safely
• What are the global implications?
• Questions
Unconventional
Large volumes
difficult to
develop
Improved technology
Conventional Reservoirs
Small volumes that are
easy to develop
Increased pricing
Resource Triangle
Implications
• All natural resources are distributed log
normally – gold, silver, oil, gas, etc.
• The high grade deposits are difficult to
find but easy to extract
• As you get deeper into the resource
triangle, you need adequate product
prices and improved
technology
Implications
• Low quality reservoirs can be enormous
• There should be a log normal
distribution of resources by quality in
every oil and gas basin we now produce
• Thus, there should be very
large volumes of gas and oil in
unconventional reservoirs
around the world
Shale gas leads growth in total gas production through 2040 to reach
half of U.S. output
U.S. dry natural gas production
trillion cubic feet
History
Source: EIA, Annual Energy Outlook 2013
Projections
2011
Shale gas
Non-associated offshore
Tight gas
Alaska
Coalbed methane
Associated with oil
Non-associated onshore
Adam Sieminski , Deloitte,
May 21, 2013
7
U.S. tight oil production leads growth in domestic production
Reference case
High resource case
million barrels per day
History
2011
Projections
History
2011
Projections
STEO May 2013 U.S. crude oil projection
Tight oil
Tight oil
Other lower 48 states onshore
Other lower 48 states onshore
Lower 48 states offshore
Lower 48 states offshore
Alaska
Alaska
Source: EIA, Annual Energy Outlook 2013 and Short-Term
Energy Outlook, May 2013
Adam Sieminski , Deloitte,
May 21, 2013
8
Outline
• What are unconventional reservoirs?
• What is hydraulic fracturing?
• How can unconventional reservoirs be
developed safely
• What are the global implications?
• Questions
Hydraulic Fracturing
• Hydraulic fracturing is the process of
using hydraulic pressure to create an
artificial fracture in a reservoir
• The fracture grows in length, height and
width by pumping a mixture of hydraulic
fluid and propping agents at high
pressure into the well bore
• The purpose of a fracture is to alter the
flow pattern in the reservoir to increase
the oil and gas flow rates
Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
Proppant
Blender
Pumper
Wellhead
Frac
Fluid
Injection
Fracture Created With
Hydraulic Pressure
(Water Based Frac Fluid)
Oil or Gas Zone
Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
Proppant
Blender
Pumper
Wellhead
Fluid
Injection
Proppant Mixed
With Frac Fluid
Clean Fluid
(Pumped First)
Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
Proppant
Blender
Pumper
Wellhead
Fluid
Injection
All Proppant Pumped
Into Fracture
Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
Flow “Broken” Frac Water Out of Well into Tanks At Surface
Production
Hydraulic Fracturing Operations
Gas Starts Flowing From Fracture After Water Clean-up
Flow to Sales
Production
Hydraulic Fracture Treatment Water Composition
Water = 90.6%
NYSERDA - 2009
Types of Proppants
• Sand varieties
 Ottawa, Jordan, England, etc.
 Brady
• Resin-coated sand
 Curable (sand flowback problems)
 Pre-cured (enhanced strength)
• Ceramics
 Sintered bauxite (strongest)
 Intermediate strength proppant (ISP)
 Lightweight proppant (LWP)
Outline
• What are unconventional reservoirs?
• What is hydraulic fracturing?
• How can unconventional reservoirs be
developed safely
• What are the global implications?
• Questions
Shale Gas Development
• Newspapers, magazines and television media
have published numerous stories about perceived
problems with shale gas development to include
problems with hydraulic fracturing
• A vocal minority opposed to oil and gas
development (Fracking) are actually opposed to
everything but wind and solar energy
• There are a lot of accusations but not much
credible evidence to back up the accusations of
environmental damage to aquifers and air
Sub-committee Documents
• The 90-Day and the 180-day Report are at
http://www.shalegas.energy.gov/
• You can also find a variety of
presentations made by industry, NGOs,
and government agencies
• All meetings were video taped and are on
the website
• More that you would ever care to read
Conclusions from DOE Report
www.shalegas.energy.gov
>The Shale Gas resource is enormous and can be
very important to economic growth
>Shale gas can be developed in a safe and
environmentally acceptable manner
>Industry needs to work with regulators and NGOs
to develop and use best practices
>States should be the primary regulators
>The DOE SEAB Subcommittee report is a
blueprint on what needs to be done
The Issues That Must Be Addressed
• Improve public information on operations
by putting more data on the internet
• Improve communication among state and
federal regulators
• Disclosure of fracture fluid composition by
posting on a website
• Protection of water quality
 Take base line measurements
 Monitor casing and cementing
Informational Issues
• Many operators are now putting more
information on their websites about
activity
• The state regulators need to improve their
availability of data over the internet
• The States and Federal regulators need to
cooperate so as not to over-regulate
• fracfocus.org is now being used to record
data from fracture treatments so it is open
to the public. fracfocus2.org is coming
29
Water Issues
• Some claims have been made that hydraulic
fracturing will pollute fresh water aquifers
• There is no evidence this can or has occurred
• Operators should obtain baseline measurements
of aquifers in areas of interest
• Well integrity is extremely important to protect
aquifers – Rule 13 in TRRC
• Casing and cementing must be done right
30
Water Issues Changing Rapidly
with Recycling More Prevalent
Fracture Fluids – Fracture
Growth
• Fracture fluids and chemicals are safe
when used properly
• Many of the same chemicals are used in
your house, your yard, and in agriculture
• Fracture treatment sizes are not large
enough to penetrate any aquifer
• Fracture height growth will be contained
by the layers above the reservoir
32
Fracturing Fluid Additives and Usage
Additive
Main
Compound
Common Use
Diluted Acid
Hydrochloric or
Muriatic Acid
Swimming Pools
Biocide
Glutaraldehyde
Dental Disinfectant
Breaker
Ammonium
Persulfate
Bleaching Hair
Crosslinker
Borate Salts
Laundry Detergents
Iron Control
Citric Acid
Food Additive
Gelling Agent
Guar Gum
Biscuits
Scale Inhibitor
Ethylene Glycol
Antifreeze
Surfactant
Isopropanol
Glass Cleaner
Friction Reducer
Polyacrylamide
Water and Soil
Treatment
GTI
Mapped microseismic height for Barnett shale
• Top: shallowest microseism; Bottom: deepest microseism
• Aquifers: USGS deepest water wells by county
Barnett Shale Mapped Frac Treatments/TVDs
Deepest Water Well Depth
0
2000
Archer
Clay
Denton
Harmon
Jack
Palo Pinto
Somervell
Wise
Depths (ft)
4000
Bosque
Cooke
Eastland
Hill
Johnson
Parker
Stephens
Frac Top
Brown
Culberson
Erath
Hood
Montague
Reeves
Tarrant
Perf Top
Perf Mid
Perf Btm
Frac Btm
Smallest height growth at shallow depths
6000
8000
Large spikes are likely fault interactions
10000
1
501
1001
2001 on Perf Midpoints)
2501
Frac1501
Stages (sorted
3001
4001
From Pinnacle
3501
Mapped microseismic height for Eagle Ford shale
• Top: shallowest microseism; Bottom: deepest microseism
• Aquifers: USGS deepest water wells by county
Eagle Ford Shale Mapped Frac Treatments/TVDs
Deepest Water Well Depth
0
Frac Top
Perf Top
Perf Mid
Perf Btm
Frac Btm
2000
Depths (ft)
4000
6000
Atascosa
Burleson
De Witt
Dimmit
Fayette
Frio
Gonzales
Karnes
La Salle
Live Oak
Maverick
Mc Mullen
Smallest height growth at shallow depths
Webb
8000
10000
12000
14000
1
101
201
301 (sorted on 401
Frac Stages
Perf Midpoints)501
From
601 Pinnacle
701
Mapped microseismic height for Marcellus shale
• Top: shallowest microseism; Bottom: deepest microseism
• Aquifers: USGS deepest water wells by county
Marcellus Shale Mapped Frac Treatments/TVDs
Deepest Water Well Depth
0
Frac Top
Perf Top
Perf Mid
Perf Btm
Frac Btm
Depths (ft)
2000
Armstrong
Butler
Clearfield
Elk
Harrison
Mc Kean
Putnam
Taylor
Washington
4000
Belmont
Cameron
Clinton
Forest
Lycoming
Nicholas
Schuyler
Tioga
Westmoreland
Bradford
Centre
Doddridge
Greene
Marshall
Potter
Susquehanna
Upshur
Wetzel
Smallest height growth at shallow depths
6000
8000
1
101
201
301
401
501
601
Frac Stages
(sorted on
Perf Midpoints)
701
From801Pinnacle901
Pad Drilling to Decrease Footprint
Courtesy George King, Apache Corp.
Outline
• What are unconventional reservoirs?
• What is hydraulic fracturing?
• How can unconventional reservoirs be
developed safely
• What are the global implications?
• Questions
Last Global Unconventional Gas Assessment Is
Now Conservative
 New emergence of UG plays around the world since 1997
 Uncertainty of Rogner’s assessment was not quantified
CBM
OGIP, Tcf
Shale
OGIP, Tcf
Australia & Asia (AAO)
1,724
6,151
1,802
9,677
North America (NAM)
Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS)
Latin America (LAM)
3,017
3,840
1,371
8,228
3,957
627
901
5,485
39
2,116
1,293
3,448
0
2,547
823
3,369
Europe (EUP)
274
549
431
1,254
Africa (AFR)
39
274
784
1,097
9,051
16,103
7,405
32,559
Regions
Middle East (MET)
World
Introduction
Tight Sands
Total, Tcf
OGIP, Tcf
Data Source: Rogner, 1997
39
Unconventional
Large volumes
difficult to
develop
Improved technology
Conventional Reservoirs
Small volumes that are
easy to develop
Increased pricing
Resource Triangle
Texas A&M Study Results
From Zhenzhen Dong Dissertation – August 2012
OGIP (P50), Tcf
Region
TRR (P50), Tcf
CBM
Tight gas
Shale
gas
Total
CBM
Tight gas
Shale
gas
Total
AAO
1,348
6,253
2,690
10,291
483
3,783
676
4,942
NAM
1,629
10,784
5,905
18,318
584
6,525
1,505
8,614
CIS
859
28,604
15,880
45,343
308
17,307
3,924
21,539
LAM
13
3,366
3,742
7,122
5
2,037
964
3,006
MET
9
15,447
15,416
30,872
3
9,346
4000
13,349
EUP
176
3,525
2,194
5,895
63
2,133
561
2,757
AFR
18
4,000
3,882
7,901
7
2,420
1007
3,434
World
4,052
71,981
49,709
125,742
1,453
43,551
12,637
57,641
42
Centuries of Natural Gas Supply
• Recent research at TAMU has computed
natural gas resource estimates for tight
sands, coal seams and shales
Area
OGIP
TRR
USE
Supply
(Tcf)
(Tcf)
(Tcf)
(years)
North America 18,318
8,614
32
269
World
57,641 118
125,742
488
Centuries of Natural Gas Supply
• Not all of the TRR is Economically
Recoverable (ERR) at todays prices and
using todays technology
• However, at least 25 – 50% of the TRR
should be converted to ERR as prices rise,
technology improves and markets develop
• Conclusion – We are not going to run out of
resource – oil or natural gas any time soon.
Outline
• What are unconventional reservoirs?
• What is hydraulic fracturing?
• How can unconventional reservoirs be
developed safely
• What are the global implications?
• Questions
Questions