Quantifying micro-proppants crushing rate and evaluating propped micro-fractures

Micro-proppants used in reservoir stimulation to enable oil and gas recovery from tight hydrocarbon reservoirs can be delivered deeper with slick water and prop microfracture networks during hydraulic fracturing. The production of a multi-fractured well system depends on fracture permeability, which is ultimately a function of proppant strength and concentration. However, it is challenging to evaluate the performance of micro-proppants due to their tiny particle size. This paper proposed a practical method for assessing micro-proppant strength based on micro-proppant crushing rates and optimizing micro-proppant delivery to achieve effective concentrations in the pad fluid to prop up the micro-fractures more effectively. Micro-proppants undergo two crushing steps when transported in the fluid and when hydraulic fractures close. Under a pressure of 70 MPa, the crushing rate is 12%–25% of the hydraulic loading, and 42%–66% of the solid loading for three types of micro-proppants. The concentration of micro-proppants in the pad fluid should be higher than 0.9 lbm/gal to maintain economic permeability under high closure stress of 50 MPa. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that adding micro-proppants to the pad fluid will increase the effective propped fracture area, and the initial productivity and stable productivity increase by more than 40% and 20%, respectively. This study has a guiding value for selecting micro-proppants and the number of micro-proppants used in hydraulic fracturing.