Oilfield Tracer Analysis and Application for Hydraulic Fracture Diagnostics
Abstract
From the mid-1950s, tracer tests have been conducted in oilfield for various applications such as determining residual oil saturation, identifying barriers or high permeability zones in reservoirs, and providing the information on flow patterns. While the utilization of tracer technologies for conventional oilfield development is mature, the use of tracers in unconventional hydraulic fracturing operations is relatively new. Limited number of research studies has been done on using novel tracer technologies for hydraulic fracture diagnosis.
The objectives of this tracer research include: (1) review the usage of tracer in literatures for traditional oilfield development; (2) investigate the advantages and disadvantages of novel proppant tracer technology for unconventional oil and gas development; (3) evaluate a chemical fluid tracer method of monitoring oil/water movement for hydraulic fracture diagnostics; (4) introduce a novel fluid tracer approach to ‘tag’ and monitor hydraulic fracturing fluid.
This research discusses the common tracer usage for traditional oil and gas development. Each type of tracer comes with its own strengths and weaknesses. Comparing the pros and cons of different tracer technologies based on their chemical nature and commercial availability helps identify the most ‘suitable’ tracers for specific oilfield investigations.
For unconventional oilfield development, novel tracer technologies to track both proppants and fluids for hydraulic fracture diagnosis have been developed over the years. Proppant tracer techniques allow for the detection of proppant location while fluid tracers can be used to estimate production contribution and detect fracture communication in multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. Based on the tracer analysis, suggestions on how to design and conduct a tracer test using novel tracer technique are provided.
In the last part of this research, a novel fluid tracer approach is introduced to ‘tag’ and locate fracture fluid. Gadolinium-based tracer is recommended as an appropriate indicator of fracture fluid. Comparing the pulsed neutron log data before and after the fracture job gives an indication of the fracture fluid location along the wellbore.
Subject
oilfield tracershydraulic fracture diagnosis
chemical tracer
tracer test analysis
tracer recovery
Citation
Li, Gongsheng (2021). Oilfield Tracer Analysis and Application for Hydraulic Fracture Diagnostics. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /195828.
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