History of Hydraulic Fracturing


Fracturing was first developed in the United States in the 1950’s. In Canada much of the fracture treatments were applied to conventional reservoirs. In the mid 1990’s , unconventional reservoirs such as natural gas from coal and tight gas sands and carbonates were becoming more important as a supply of natural gas in North America. The transition towards unconventional gas reservoirs had begun and the importance of hydraulic fracturing was beginning to be realized by the industry. Significant technological advancements were made in fracturing technology, primarily in fluids, proppants and treatment design.

 

With the application of horizontal drilling, particularly as it has been applied to shale gas resource plays, new technologies have been developed to enable economic gas production from these “ultra” tight reservoirs. The size of the fracture treatment as well as the number of treatments per well have steadily increased as a result of shale gas development with the result being major advances in natural gas production from gas-bearing shale formations. The technological breakthroughs were first realized in the Barnett shale gas play located in the Fort Worth Basin in Texas. As success was realized, the technologies and learnings from this resource play were then (and continue to be) applied to other emerging shale gas basin plays across North American as well as internationally.

 

Fracturing was first completed in Canada in the Cardium oil field located in the Pembina region in central Alberta in the 1950s. It has continued with thousands of completions in shallow gas wells in the Medicine Hat area as well as other conventional natural gas and oil reservoirs throughout Western Canada. With over fifty years of history, the application of hydraulic fracturing techniques have been developed and highly regulated to ensure that the shallow groundwater resources of the basin are protected. Comprehensive well construction regulations coupled with advance technologies for drilling, completion and fracturing limit the potential for damage to groundwater horizons.

 

Fracturing technology is now used extensively throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). Without fracturing, the majority of new wells in the WCSB would not be economical. Existing wells are sometimes refraced and old conventional wells are recompleted in an unconventional zone rather than be abandoned.

 

Over the past 50 years, there have been significant advances in hydraulic fracturing technology. Different types of fracture treatments have been developed ranging from packer and pumping equipment to variations in treatment fluids and proppants. Each natural gas reservoir is unique due to the variability in geology and geomechanics. As a result, there will be different types of hydraulic fracturing treatments used depending on what result is needed in the end and what the parameters of the zone are.

 

Recent developments of fracture technology coupled with horizontal drilling have allowed numerous tight gas reservoirs to yield economic volumes on natural gas. These technological breakthroughs have enabled significant natural gas resources to be added to the country’s energy resource base and extending the potential supply by over 100 years.