Ernie Brown & mat Hoover, Dowell Schlumberger
Over the last thirty years various polymers have been added to water to create the base fluid used in fracture stimulation treatments. Advances in improving these base fluids have been concentrated on developing polymers which are relatively free from damaging residue, while retaining the properties required to achieve the designed viscosities. Little attention has been focused on the effects of mixing these polymers under field conditions, where the majority of the hydration process is taking place in the low shear environment of large frac tanks. Recently, a method has been developed to improve the actual hydration process of standard fracturing polymers. Through this process, a higher quality and more predictable base fluid can now be delivered to the well site. The mixing of the base fracturing fluid is now much less susceptible to the harsh mixing conditions found in the field. As a result of better control of the base fluid quality, better overall fracturing designs can be successfully pumped.