The breakdown process of low-permeable shale and high-permeable sandstone rocks due to non-aqueous fracturing: the role of fluid infiltration

Hydraulic fracturing operations have been widely used to enhance reservoir permeability during the extraction of oil, shale gas and tight sandstone gas. Recently, non-aqueous fracturing fluids, such as supercritical carbon dioxide and nitrogen, have been proposed as the potential fracturing fluid candidates due to their advantages of decreasing formation damage, conserving water resources and avoiding injection-induced seismicity. However, the breakdown process of the non-aqueous fracturing process and the breakdown mechanism remain mysteries. In this research, we report a series of hydraulic fracturing experiments with low-permeable shale samples and high-permeable sandstone samples by water, supercritical carbon dioxide, and nitrogen gas under different injection rates. Moreover, we use a coupled fluid-rock interaction model to visualize the distribution of fluid pressure near the injection borehole during hydraulic fracturing before the sample breakdown. The results indicate that the fluid infiltration decreases the breakdown pressure by increasing the pore pressure and decreasing the effective stress, especially for high-permeable sandstone rock and low-viscosity fracturing fluid. Also, breakdown pressure increases with increasing fluid injection rate, and the conventional Hubbert-Willis and Haimson-Fairhust equations can still effectively determine the upper and lower limits in predicting the breakdown pressure. Our results suggest that lower viscosity fluid with a lower injection rate leads to a lower breakdown pressure, which is suitable to be implemented for the reservoirs with high intrinsic permeability.

Automated summary

This study conducted hydraulic fracturing experiments using different fluids and injection rates, finding that fluid infiltration decreases breakdown pressure, especially suitable for high-permeable sandstone and low-viscosity fracturing fluids. Breakdown pressure increases with increasing fluid injection rate, and conventional equations can effectively predict the upper and lower limits of breakdown pressure.