Hydraulic Fracturing: The Process

Why is Hydraulic Fracturing Used?

Experts believe 60 to 80 percent of all wells drilled in the United States in the next ten years will require hydraulic fracturing to remain operating. Fracturing allows for extended production in older oil and natural gas fields.  It also allows for the recovery of oil and natural gas from formations that geologists once believed were impossible to produce, such as tight shale formations in the areas shown on the map below.  Hydraulic fracturing is also used to extend the life of older wells in mature oil and gas fields.


How is Hydraulic Fracturing Done?*

The placement of hydraulic fracturing treatments underground is sequenced to meet the particular needs of the formation. The sequence noted below from a Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania is just one example.  Each oil and gas zone is different and requires a hydraulic fracturing design tailored to the particular conditions of the formation.  Therefore, while the process remains essentially the same, the sequence may change depending upon unique local conditions.  It is important to note that not all of the additives are used in every hydraulically fractured well; the exact “blend” and proportions of additives will vary based on the site-specific depth, thickness and other characteristics of the target formation. 

  1. An acid stage, consisting of several thousand gallons of water mixed with a dilute acid such as hydrochloric or muriatic acid: This serves to clear cement debris in the wellbore and provide an open conduit for other frac fluids by dissolving carbonate minerals and opening fractures near the wellbore. 
  2. A pad stage, consisting of approximately 100,000 gallons of slickwater without proppant material: The slickwater pad stage fills the wellbore with the slickwater solution (described below), opens the formation and helps to facilitate the flow and placement of proppant material.
  3. A prop sequence stage, which may consist of several substages of water combined with proppant material (consisting of a fine mesh sand or ceramic material, intended to keep open, or “prop” the fractures created and/or enhanced during the fracturing operation after the pressure is reduced): This stage may collectively use several hundred thousand gallons of water. Proppant material may vary from a finer particle size to a coarser particle size throughout this sequence.
  4. A flushing stage, consisting of a volume of fresh water sufficient to flush the excess proppant from the wellbore.

Other additives commonly used in the fracturing solution employed in Marcellus wells include:

  • A dilute acid solution, as described in the first stage, used during the initial fracturing sequence. This cleans out cement and debris around the perforations to facilitate the subsequent slickwater solutions employed in fracturing the formation.
  • A biocide or disinfectant, used to prevent the growth of bacteria in the well that may interfere with the fracturingoperation: Biocides typically consist of bromine-based solutions or glutaraldehyde.
  • A scale inhibitor, such as ethylene glycol, used to control the precipitation of certain carbonate and sulfate minerals
  • Iron control/stabilizing agents such as citric acid or hydrochloric acid, used to inhibit precipitation of iron compounds by keeping them in a soluble form
  • Friction reducing agents, also described above, such as potassium chloride or polyacrylamide-based compounds, used to reduce tubular friction and subsequently reduce the pressure needed to pump fluid into the wellbore: The additives may reduce tubular friction by 50 to 60%. These friction-reducing compounds represent the “slickwater” component of the fracing solution.
  • Corrosion inhibitors, such as N,n-dimethyl formamide, and oxygen scavengers, such as ammonium bisulfite, are used to prevent degradation of the steel well casing.
  • Gelling agents, such as guar gum, may be used in small amounts to thicken the water-based solution to help transport the proppant material.
  • Occasionally, a cross-linking agent will be used to enhance the characteristics and ability of the gelling agent to transport the proppant material. These compounds may contain boric acid or ethylene glycol. When cross-linking additives are added, a breaker solution is commonly added later in the frac stage to cause the enhanced gelling agent to break down into a simpler fluid so it can be readily removed from the wellbore without carrying back the sand/ proppant material.

Fractures: Their orientation and length

Certain predictable characteristics or physical properties regarding the path of least resistance have been recognized since hydraulic fracturing was first conducted in the oilfield in 1947.  These properties are discussed below:

Fracture orientation

Hydraulic fractures are formed in the direction perpendicular to the least stress. Based on experience, horizontal fractures will occur at depths less than approximately 2000 ft. because the Earth’s overburden at these depths provides the least principal stress.  If pressure is applied to the center of a formation under these relatively shallow conditions,  the fracture is most likely to occur in the horizontal plane, because it will be easier to part the rock in this direction than in any other.  In general, therefore, these fractures are parallel to the bedding plane of the formation.

As depth increases beyond approximately 2000 ft., overburden stress increases by approximately 1 psi/ft., making the overburden stress the dominant stress This means the horizontal confining stress is now the least principal stress.  Since hydraulically induced fractures are formed in the direction perpendicular to the least stress, the resulting fracture at depths greater than  approximately 2000 ft.  will be oriented in the vertical direction.

In the case where a fracture might cross over a boundary where the principal stress direction changes, the fracture would attempt to reorient itself perpendicular to the direction of least stress.  Therefore, if a fracture propagated from deeper to shallower formations it would reorient itself from a vertical to a horizontal pathway and spread sideways along the bedding planes of the rock strata. 

Fracture length/ height

The extent that a created fracture will propagate is controlled by the upper confining zone or formation, and the volume, rate, and pressure of the fluid that is pumped. The confining zone will limit the vertical growth of a fracture because it either possesses sufficient strength or elasticity to contain the pressure of the injected fluids or an insufficient volume of fluid has been pumped..   This is important because the greater the distance between the fractured formation and the USDW, the more likely it will be that multiple formations possessing the qualities necessary to impede the fracture will occur.  However, while it should be noted that the length of a fracture can also be influenced by natural fractures or faults as shown in a study that included microseismic analysis of fracture jobs conducted on three wells in Texas, natural attenuation of the fracture will occur over relatively short distances due to the limited volume of fluid being pumped and dispersion of the pumping pressure regardless of intersecting migratory pathways.

The following text and graphs are excerpts from an article written by Kevin Fisher of Pinnacle, a Halliburton Company for the July 2010 edition of the American Oil and Gas Reporter.




Figure 1.  Barnett Shale




Figure 2 Marcellus Shale





* Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
“Hydraulic Fracturing Overview.” 07/20/2010. 

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