Q: What is the difference between Slotting and Fracturing?
Slotting is not fracturing. Slotting uses high pressure water jetting/cutting technology to CUT and excavate an area within the target region. Slotting is often used as an alternative where fracturing is not an option or as a precursor to fracturing in order to better control and enhance the fracturing procedure. In our opinion slotting always is the best completion technology no matter what procedure is desired next and the well is vertical or horizontal.
Q: How does the additional production value that slotting brings (when used for production enhancement operations) compare with that of the hydraulic fracturing?
Slotting and Hydraulic fracturing (HF) have similar production profiles, however, Slotting tends to have longer lasting impacts and shallower decline curves due to the changes in formation stress patterns that arise from slotting.
Slotting has a longer term effect on the rock than HF. Slots stay open and it has active channels longer than HF fracture paths stay open and active.
Slotting cleans up the well by washing the silts and other mobilized fines up-hole. HF does not. This directly affects production.
Slotting removes rock from the formation which increases permeability. HF does not. This directly affects production.
Decline curve for slotting is shallower than for HF.
Little difference in flush production between the two technologies exists.
We have huge experience in well intervention of old wells. We increase production rate to 80% of original IP & often extract additional 100% of the cumulative production. HF cannot do this.
Recent job. Perforation + frac = IP of 14 mcf, cumulative of 20,000 mcf over well life of 20 years. 5 years later, Operator used 2nd fracture that did not give any additional result. We intervened in same zone of same well. PowerSlotting + frac = IP of 135 mcf, cumulative of 18,130 mcf over 2 YEARS!
Q: Technically speaking, how would a hydraulic frac job compare to a REDUX slotting job?
Slotting typically excavates almost as much rock by weight as the typical hydraulic fracture (HF) injects.
HF imposes pressure against the rock equal to the breakdown pressure until it cracks; slotting imposes no pressure against the formation but instead releases the pressure back up the annulus. slotting maintains hydrostatic pressure < formation pressure.
HF can be implemented quite fast – 20 or 30 minutes – not including perforation, set up, rig down, or blow-back. slotting is slower – hours, to 1 day or more depending on height of formation. Cutting requires more time than cracking.
HF uses many chemicals in great amount. Slotting uses minimal to no chemicals – typically formation brine only.
Q: What are the main differences between polymer flooding or gas injection compared to the REDUX process?
Water or polymer flooding, and steam or gas injection are different from Slotting in their purpose and implementation. They are not mutually exclusive and you can use all of them on your well. For efficiency you should use Slotting first. Now, we can give a general overview of these alternatives, but the overview will be as broad as the array of water-jetting technologies out there. To be really precise we would need to know more about them. Flooding and injection are used to keep the reservoir pressure higher or more stable than it would be after extracting petroleum (as fluids are extracted, pressure normally goes down). Flooding is used in pressure-drive or solution-drive reservoirs to replace the petroleum / natural gas fluids that have been extracted from the formation in order to keep pressure high or at least stable. As the oil rises to the top of the formation, the flooding is introduced at the bottom. Water flooding and miscible gas injection are common examples
of this EOR. Polymer flooding is more expensive, but additionally provides a solution to prevent problematic mobilization of water or certain oil by-products like paraffins, asphaltenes, or silt/sand. Steam injection is used for heavy oil formations. The introduction of extreme heat from the steam causes the heavy oil to flow more easily to the surface. The same method can be used to raise the pour point and loosen up paraffins and asphaltenes to unclog the formation and extract these by-products to the surface. Gas “injection” and gas “lifting” are slightly different. Lifting is limited to injection to the well-bore only, and not the reservoir. Gas lift replaces rod pumping. These methods do not achieve the 15 benefits that REDUX achieves, found in our Informational Brochure and related documents.