A modern approach to the evaluation of abrasive wear on fracking equipment

UDK: 622.276.66.002.34

DOI: 10.24887/0028-2448-2025-12-97-100

Key words: hydraulic fracturing (HF), propping agents, abrasive wear, laboratory studies, proppant

Authors: K.M. Parovinchak (Rosneft Oil Company, RF, Moscow); A.P. Stabinskas (Rosneft Oil Company, RF, Moscow); M.G. Volkov (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow); M.S. Antonov (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow; Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, RF, Ufa); A.E. Fedorov (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow); A.A. Mironenko (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow); S.S. Tsybin (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow; Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, RF, Ufa); N.A. Onegov (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow; Ufa State Petroleum Technological University, RF, Ufa); A.A. Gayazov (RN-TECHNOLOGIES LLC, RF, Moscow)

Hydraulic fracturing (HF) is a key technology enabling efficient development of hard-to-recover oil reserves in ultra-low permeability reservoirs. The modern approach to field development is characterized by increasing horizontal wellbore length, a growing number of operations during multistage HF, and increasing actual mass of proppant per stage. As part of the Rosneft-2030 strategy, aimed at maintaining leadership in specific production costs with a target of 330 million tons of oil equivalent, Rosneft Oil Company is actively implementing modern approaches to HF. Supplying production companies with proppant, combined with technical and economic optimization of growing HF costs, became a necessary condition for maintaining oil production at a profitable level. A foremost promising direction for ensuring the required amount of proppant is the substitution of the overall share of ceramic proppant with alternative proppant materials, while it is necessary to consider a complex of factors including both physical-mechanical and filtration properties. Among important indicators of the physical-mechanical properties of proppant for conducting HF operations is abrasiveness, which affects equipment wear. In this paper, a historical analysis of approaches to assessing abrasive wear of process equipment was performed, and the current normative-technical framework regulating the process of proppant abrasiveness assessment was examined. Based on the identified limitations of existing methods, the authors propose a concept for creating a new experimental test rig. It’s key feature is the ability to simulate physical processes characteristic of HF operations, which should enable obtaining more reliable and relevant data on equipment wear.

References

1. Sadykov A.M., Kapishev D.Yu., Erastov S.A. et al., Innovative hydraulic fracturing designs and recommendations for putting wells into production in conditions of ultra-low-permeability reservoirs on the example of the Erginsky license block of the Priobskoye field (In Russ.), Ekspozitsiya Neft’ Gaz, 2022, no. 7(92), pp. 80–85,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24412/2076-6785-2022-7-80-85

2. Woldman M., Van Der Heide E., Schipper D.J. et al., Investigating the influence of sand particle properties on abrasive wear behavior, Wear, 2014, V. 294–295, pp. 419–426.

3. Rosenberg S.J., The resistance of steels to abrasion by sand, Bureau of Standards Journal of Research, 1930, V. 5, no. 3, p. 553.

4. Salik J., Buckley D.H., Effect of erodent particle shape and various heat treatments on erosion resistance of plain carbon steel, NASA Technical Paper, 1981, 7 p.

5. Serdyuk A., Valeev S., Frolenkov A. et al., Improving economics of hard-to-recover reserves development. Case study of Achimov formation at Prirazlomnoe oil field, SPE-191722-18RPTC-RU, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.2118/191722-18RPTC-RU

6. ASTM Standard G76. Standard test method for conducting erosion tests by solid particle impingement using gas jets, ASTM International, West Conshohocken,

PA, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1520/G0076-18

7. ASTM Standard G73. Standard test method for liquid impingement erosion using rotating apparatus, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2021,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1520/G0076-1810.1520/G0073-10R21

8. ASTM Standard G134. Standard test method for erosion of solid materials by cavitating liquid jet, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2023,

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1520/G0076-1810.1520/G0134-17R23

9. ASTM Standard G134. Standard test method for determination of slurry abrasivity (miller number) and slurry abrasion response of materials (SAR Number), ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2021, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1520/G0076-1810.1520/G0075-15R21

10. Clark H.M., The influence of the flow field in slurry erosion, Wear, 1992, V. 152, no. 2, pp. 223–240, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1520/G0076-1810.1016/0043-1648(92)90122-o