Unconventional Resources: Shale Gas
Abhishek Agrawal, Amit Giri and Nilesh Agrawal, Petroleum Engineering, ISM Dhanbad.
Abstract
Shale is a common type of sedimentary rock formed
over centuries from deposits of mud, silt, clay and
organic matter. As mud turns into shale near the
earths surface, bacteria feed on the organic material-
also called kerogene-to release biogenic methane as
a by-product. Shale gas consists mainly of thermo
genic methane and other gases which have been
trapped in shale. India has got shale reserves like
Cambay, Assam-Arakan, & Damodar.
Shale has low matrix permeability, so gas production
in commercial quantities requires fracture to provide
permeability. The conventional process used for
fracturing is hydro-fracturing which involves large
amount of fresh water mixed with additives as
fracking fluid. Hence, tonnes of chemicals are being
injected into the well which causes environmental
impacts including contamination of ground water,
depletion of fresh water, risk to air quality, noise
pollution and other health effects. One of the other
techniques that are used is CO2 fracturing but it is
very much costly than the previous one. Also the
separation of CO2 from shale gas requires extra
efforts. So, overall it is not worthy.
Our paper is to discuss about propane as fracking
fluid and its advantages over other fracking fluids
(like water and CO2). Propane stimulation enables a
recovery of 95-100% of injected gas which can be
used for another stimulation operation. Propane
flows back naturally and flaring is not needed. In
other words, propane achieves a close loop process.
Moreover, propane can be reused almost infinite
times for fracturing. It requires less number of
additives and also the number of equipments that are
needed on the site is minimum. The use of propane
reduces by 80% the carbon footprint of
transportation, by avoiding the ballet of trucks that
supply the thousands of gallons of water and its
removal for treatment. Less time is required to
achieve stimulation (from 1/3rd to 1/10th). It should
also be noted that the use of propane makes fractures
more deep and even. The issue of wastewater
retreatment does not arise with this techniques.
Introduction
This paper discusses about the use of propane as
fracking fluid and its advantages. How propane is
cost effective and time saving. Conventionally,
fracturing was done using water as fracking fluid,
after that came the CO2 fracturing but it was also not
very effective. But fracturing with propane is lot
more advantageous and efficient as compared to
these two methods and that is the reason why propane
is the right choice for fracking.
Demerits of water and CO2
>water
The traditional method of hydraulic
fracturing involves use of millions of gallons
of water resulting in huge wastage of
drinkable water. The water used gets
contaminated with several chemicals
additives used as proppant and it, because of
its polar nature also acts as solvent for many
seabed salts, heavy metals and radioactive
substances which are inside the well which
are harmful on coming to the open
environment. This chemical containing water
then flows back to the surface with the
potential to foul drinking water supplies and
rivers.
In hydraulic fracturing more than 50% of the
water used, stays in the reservoir and most of
the water that does flow back has to be
disposed off safely after removing all the
dissolved substances.
2 Unconventional Resources: Shale Gas
The effective frac length in case of water is
less as compared to propane as it enters the
pores and block the path for flow of gas.
The volume of water required for fracturing
is very large and thus it needs large numbers
of trucks to transport the water to the fracking
site which increases the truck traffic, adds to
the cost of transportation and also increases
the environmental pollution.
The time required to recover the water from
the well is very long as much as 1000 days.
>CO2
The main problem associated with CO2
fracturing is their transport in the liquid state
which requires special kind trucks to keep it
in liquid state and it is stored in pressurized
containers.
The lekage of CO2 to the atmosphere can be
extremely harmful to planet as it is the main
cause of global warming.
Fluid recycling is not posiible in the case of
CO2 fracturing.
The separation of CO2 requires very high
equipments and special separation plants
which are very expensive and affects the total
cost of production by a huge amount.
Propane fracturing
In propane fracturing, liquid propane is converted
into gel by the addition of diester phosphoric acid.
This gel is then pumped into well at high pressure
and low temperature which creates the fractures in
the rock. The fracturing in the rocks alleviates the
temperature inside the well and propane is converted
into gaseous state which then mixes with the shale
gas and is extracted at the surface from same pipeline
where it is separated from shale by some methods
and used again in the gel form and this process is
repeated again and again.
>Advantages
There are numerous advantages of LPG over the
other fracking fluids which certainly makes it the
right choice-
LPG fracking is waterless and saves lot of
water which was wasted in hydro-fracking
and the cost of processing the waste water is
also eliminated, along with that, it does not
dissolve any salt or radioactive material so it
comes out of the well harmless and it is as
natural to a well as soil is to the earth.
The ability of LPG fracking to quickly
recover 100% of the fracturing fluid results in
enhanced oil and gas recovery, longer
sustained production, and the ability to
recapture, reuse or resella highly cost-
effective benefit. This also creates economic
and environmental benefits reducing clean-
up, waste disposal, while creating higher
initial production levels.
LPG has got very low viscosity, surface
tension and density when compared to water
as shown in table.1, reduction in viscosity
results in reduction in pressure required to
move the same volume of fluid through a
porous media. Surface tension of the
treatment fluid is directly proportional to
capillary threshold pressure or differential
pressure required to mobilize fracturing fluid
during cleanup. This greatly improves post
frac fluid recovery and maximizes the
effective fracture length.
Because propane liquid is half the specific
3 Unconventional Resources: Shale Gas
gravity of water, so the amount of fluid used
in case of propane is way less than that used
in case of water which ultimately reduces the
truck carrying cost and there is reduced
trucking to the site and no trucking to
transport post stimulation - which can reduce
truck traffic by up to 90%.
LPG is miscible with oil resulting in reduced
viscosity and improved oil mobility leading
to more effective clean-up of the well and
higher initial production rate.
Using LPG also reduces the need to flare
production to clean up the traditional
fracturing fluids, reducing CO2 emissions.
Another added advantage facilitated through
LPG process, is the ability to evenly
distribute proppant with gelled slurry during
pumping, thereby decreasing the chance of
proppant settling in the formations. The gel
can generate a higher pay zone height
throughout pumping and subsequent long-
term production.
The fracking procedure that uses propane
reduces the length of time it takes to recover
the slurry solution. This is because the
propane is pumped in as a gel. Once under
pressure, the gel changes state from a liquid
to a gas. When the pressure is released, this
gas travels out the bore head and is easily
collected. This process generally takes less
than 24 hours.
Propane can allow more gas to escape, as it
completely leaves cracked rock, unlike water,
which can remain behind and sometimes
block tiny pathways needed for gas to escape.
fig.1 illustrates the same.
The comparision of CO2 and propane is made
in table 2
Concluding Remarks
Considering the great scarcity of portable water
today and amidst the major environmental
challenges, propane fracturing seems to be a much
better method over traditional methods to extract
shale gas in order to fulfill the rising energy needs of
the mankind. Shale gas is definitely an opportunity,
if harnessed effectively, can bring about a change in
the energy mix of the world. The effects of shale gas
can be far reaching and therefore it needs to be given
adequate importance. The industry and the
government need to work together to come up with a
shale gas exploration policy that not only encourages
foreign investment but also encourages domestic
economic growth.
Acknowledgements
Through this paper work, we thank the department
of Petroleum Engineering of ISM Dhanbad and the
professors for their valuable guidance and constant
support throughout the paper.
References
1.www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2011/Novemb
er/15111102.asp
2.www.minproc.pwr.wroc.pl/journal/
3.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shale_gas
4.www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2011/Novemb
er/15111102.asp
5.www.gasfrac.com/operator-advantages.html
6.www.gasfrac.com/lpg-vs-conventional.html
7.frackwire.com/lp-gas-fracking/
4 Unconventional Resources: Shale Gas

TABLES & FIGURES

Fig 1

Property Water LPG

Viscosity .66 cps (@105F) 0.08 cps (@105F)
Specific Gravity 1.02 .51
Surface Tension 72 dynes/cm 7.6 dynes/cm
Nature Potentially Damaging Non Damaging Inert with the
Reactive with Formation Formation
Clays/Salts Clays/Salts
Table 1

WELL WELL TYPE PROPPANT IP BOE/D

1 CO2 495000 133
2 CO2 495000 215
3 CO2 704000 280
4 LPG 333000 1138
Table 2
5 Unconventional Resources: Shale Gas

Author Contact Details

Abhishek Agrawal, abhishek.agr001@gmail.com, 8674806409

Amit Giri, amit.giri248@gmail.com, 8051074407

Nilesh Agrawal, nile5783@gmail.com, 8084838691