Oct 6 2009
Santrol Oil and Gas Stimulation Products is introducing a new breakthrough proppant technology today at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.
PowerProp MultiCoat proppant is a newly developed, patented technology designed to increase productivity in oil and gas wells. Tested under a range of closure stresses and temperatures, PowerProp achieved superior conductivity and permeability results over a lightweight ceramic proppant.
In fact, when tested under industry standard methods, PowerProp outperformed lightweight ceramics in every category. It demonstrated consistently better crush strength in the hot wet crush test. It also outperformed lightweight ceramics in the beta conductivity to gas performance test, which predicts non-Darcy flow in higher, more turbulent flow conditions.
"Our patented technology provides a more consistent, stronger coating that beats lightweight ceramic," explained Jesus Espinoza. "If you're going to make the investment in fracturing a well, you want a proppant that can hold the formation open as much as possible. You want to maintain as much of that hard-won conductivity as you can for as long as you can."
"Unfortunately, some proppants are only effective for a limited period of time", said Espinoza. "They can flow back into the well bore, and are susceptible to crushing and degradation processes that can begin soon after injection, such as proppant embedment, crush, and diagenesis, all of which can create fines. Research shows that as little as 5% fines may reduce flow capacity by more than 50%.
"Tests show PowerProp will help maintain high conductivity under the toughest fracture conditions. That means more well productivity and higher profits."