How Do Solid Expandable Tubulars Work in Frac

Applications?
Hydraulic fracturing, a reservoir stimulation process that involves pumping fluid into a well to
break-up sand and rock formations, has become a vital method for maintaining and improving
oil and gas well production. In addition, growing energy demand and healthy commodity prices
have caused the industry to re-evaluate recovering remaining hydrocarbon reserves in
challenging conditions such as unconventional gas formations. Techniques include using reentry wells, and/or marginal wells. This competitive marketplace requires more efficient
perforating and fracturing methods ensuring effective fracing of the formation.

New and innovative methods for isolating, perforating and fracturing include advanced fracing
fluids and new perforation methods. Now, solid expandable technology is being applied to
provide additional value - especially in wells associated with multi-zone fracturing in tight gas
and shale gas formations where efficient completion and production strategies determine their
development.

Multi-zone isolation fracturing systems are meant to ensure effective zonal isolation in different
sections of the wellbore. This improves field economics by decreasing rig time, reducing time
and cost for hydraulic fracturing services, accelerating production, reducing frequency of the
treatments and improving reservoir drainage.

Solid Expandable Technology Facilitates Multi-Zone Isolating & Fracturing

Stimulating a multi-zone well properly is dependent on several pieces of information such as:

interpretation of reservoir properties data

possible well modeling

completion configuration

the formation's natural fracture structure

Typical zonal isolation solutions include

bridge plugs

straddle packers

chemical or mechanical diverters

external casing packers, or

modified production packers

combined with multi-trip conventional perforation and fracturing operations and simultaneous rig
and pumping activities that add cost to the overall project.
Enventure's FracSET MaxFrac Liner is a solid expandable liner with swellable elastomer
technology that requires only a single trip to install and provides instant zonal isolation.
Depending on the subsequent fracing techniques, only one more trip may be required for
perforating, fracturing, and cleanout operations (as well as production kickoff, if required). After
the well is drilled and the solid expandable liner installed, the rig is moved to the next pad to
continue optimum asset utilization.

MaxFrac solid expandable products support any type of perforating, plug and fracturing program
from conventional shaped charge perforation guns run on ecoil or eline to jet perforating
systems and from sand plugs to pump down composite plugs for isolation. Without mechanical
complexity or drill out of components, an expandable liner provides:

the means to individually create and fracture unlimited zones or entry points

a much larger inside diameter (ID) than conventional solutions to accommodate larger
perforating guns and larger flow areas

lower pressure drops and higher frac rates with less required horsepower

flush ID for ease of intervention in support of refracturing and recompletions

An expandable solution such as MaxFrac can be made up of solely expandable casing or a

combination of both expandable and conventional casing. Swellable elastomers are placed as
needed along the length of the system to attain desired isolation for fracture stimulation.

Real-World Application
An operator in Canada intended to use horizontal wells with multiple hydraulic fractures to
develop a new gas play in a tight carbonate reservoir; however, there was an unacceptable
screenout rate during the vertical well exploration program.
A high assurance of placing all hydraulic fractures was needed during the initial development
phase. To isolate multiple zones while maximizing diameter, the operator installed MaxFrac
liners. The maximum diameter helped reduce fluid friction during high-rate fracturing operations.
A single 5-1/2 x 7 in., 26.0 lb/ft Max-Frac expandable liner with five sections of swellable
elastomers was successfully installed and expanded. All hydraulic fractures were placed, and
effective zonal isolation was observed by micro-seismic imaging.

Conclusion
Applying solid expandable technology as a completion/production solution to facilitate fracturing
operations is evolving to address ever-changing technical challenges and provide operators with
new and more cost-effective problem-solving alternatives. By integrating solid expandable
systems with other conventional and advanced solutions for isolating, perforating, fracturing and
completing operators benefit from a more efficient and reliable means to maximize production
rates and final recovery of reserves.