Liquefied Oxygen Fracturing: A Simulative Approach

Abstract

The entire project is a work on the simulation of fracture design on a new potential fracturing fluid liquefied oxygen. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative study between hydraulic fracturing and cryogenic fracturing (liquefied oxygen) for the same reservoir having same properties to generate potential information on intrusion of fracturing fluid, pumping criteria, final stage pump pressure, required pumping time for both the fluids water as well as liquefied oxygen in the given reservoir to estimate how much liquid oxygen fracturing is effective in terms of consumption of time and energy of the surface systems to achieve almost the same results. Here the main objective was to discover one fluid which is better comparatively to another. The resulting values of the simulation show that liquid oxygen is superior in reaching the extended zone of the reservoir at the first stage of pumping and takes less time than hydraulic fracturing to reach the last stage of fracturing the formation. To achieve the required same results as hydraulic fracturing, liquefied oxygen takes lesser pumping pressure comparatively and the pumping duration to reach the maximum half length of the fracture is lesser than liquid oxygen comparatively with hydraulic fracturing. Ultimately, the results show that liquefied oxygen fracturing is superior to traditional hydraulic fracturing, but it cannot be used in a newly discovered reservoir.