Development of a ceramic proppant alternative for deep conventional gas development in Saudi Arabia

The purpose of the paper is to present the results of using local sand resources in Saudi Arabia for the manufacture of resin coated proppant as a ceramic proppant alternative for deep conventional gas development. Crushed Miocene sandstone, old river sand and dune sand has been tested for a source to manufacture resin coated sand proppant. Compared to Northern White Sand in USA, each sand source has its own set of limitations such as angularity, low aspect ratio, clay, carbonate scale or iron oxide coating, and/or micro-fracture damage. Complete resin bonding to the particle surface required clean quartz surface free of sharp edges and no dust contamination. Conductivity testing of the resin coated sand at reservoir pressure and temperature reveals that over 95 wt% of the mesh sized sand particles should pass the room temperature crush test before coating.