Development of an Optical based Single Well Seismic System (OSWS) forImproved Characterization and Monitoring of Fractures in UOG Systems

Our aim is to increase low oil level recoveries from tight shale formations by designing formation-specific water chemistries that simultaneously minimize oil reservoir adhesion and frac water usage- Tight shale formations in North America contain billions of barrels of oil, however, the industry average recovery is typically well below 10%, especially compared to an average of 30% for conventional reservoirs- Battle Born Algorithms will develop an algorithm that predicts salinity-driven imbibition in tight formations so that fracking fluids can be precisely tailored to produce more oil through a combination of osmotic countercurrent imbibition and wettability alteration- The work will be done in conjunction with researchers from Sandia National Laboratories who have worked out frac water chemistry controls over wettability alteration in tight formations- Tight formations imbibe frac water through capillary and osmotic effects where it displaces oil into fractures and interbeds with large pores and low capillary pressure- The extent of imbibition, and the amount of oil recovered, depends on the osmotic pull of water into the system and wettability alteration-the degree to which the frac water decreases oil-reservoir adhesion and draws water into pores and pushed oil out- For example, dilutefracfluidswillbemorestronglyimbibedintohypersalinereservoirsbecauseofthegreater osmotic pressure difference thus producing more oil- However, lower salinities might result in greater oil adhesion, reducing oil mobility and recovery- Conversely, use of more concentrated fluids will reduce counterflow but enhance oil mobility by decreasing adhesion-The idea is that both osmotic and adhesion forces must be known to design a frac fluid that maximizes oil recovery- A major benefit of an optimized water composition would be reduction of fracking demands for freshwater-