As global energy demand continues to increase, deep water/high pressure (DWHP) oil & gas reserves are projected to make up a greater share of long-term supply than any other source. Accessing DWHP reserves requires wells with a total vertical depth (TVD) of at least 15,000 ft., where pressure is dramatically higher than the average onshore well. Accordingly, DWHP wells require alternative procedures, equipment, and materials capable of meeting the demands of high pressure environments. One of the most critical of these needs is proppant, specialized materials injected into the formation that allow oil or gas to flow into the wellbore. While sand and ceramic proppants are widely available and used consistently in onshore and shallow water wells, they are woefully inadequate for the harsher conditions under which DWHP wells operate.
TessaFrac has developed a step-change proppant using a highly specialized material new to the oil & gas industry, designed to optimize production from DWHP wells: TessaFrac Advantage™. Our unparalleled, unique product platform directly addresses the four key performance requirements of the DWHP market: strength, weight, sphericity, and uniformity.
Until now, the strength of proppant has been directly correlated to its weight — the higher the strength, the greater the weight. TessaFrac’s unique production method has made Advantage the first truly lightweight proppant capable of withstanding the pressure found in DWHP wells. In fact, Advantage is less than half the weight of competing products with similar strength. The significance of this very high strength-to-weight ratio is twofold — first, Advantage travels further into the formation, as it stays suspended in fracturing fluid longer than its heavier counterparts. Second, downhole engineers can safely reach the solid-to-fluid ratio limits of frac fluid (maximize amount of proppant entering the formation) without exceeding weight limits, which had previously been impossible.
Maximum conductivity in a frac well can only be achieved through perfect proppant sphericity and uniformity. The more perfect each sphere in the proppant pack is, the greater the conductivity, and the stronger the pack is as a whole. Uniform size and shape yield the maximum number of touch points between spheres, maximizing strength in the pack. TessaFrac Advantage is tunable, meaning the size of the proppant can be adjusted depending on customer needs and well requirements. Advantage proppant spheres will fall within a +/- 40 micron range of the desired size, while competing proppants cannot guarantee a size range of less than 400 microns. In addition, the roundest competing proppant available is 10% less spherical than Advantage, giving TessaFrac clear superiority in both shape and uniformity.
The synergistic attributes of TessaFrac Advantage—high strength, low weight, near-perfect sphericity and uniform size—make it the best DWHP proppant available.
Click here to download the Melior Advantage™ Product Sheet.
