Development of shale reservoirs: Knowledge gained from developments in North America

Among the different fracturing fluid systems used in the field, the use of slickwater in hydraulic fracturing represents a major challenge as a huge volume of water is used in such treatment. In Marcellus shale formation, hydraulic fracturing of one well may require an average volume of 3-8 million gallons of water. Recycling of produced water has been attempted in North America in Marcellus shale play, where re-use of the flowback water resulted in 25% reduction in the fresh water volumes and it reduced the cost of disposing produced water by 45%-55%. A comprehensive understanding and analysis on unconventional reservoirs is required for the Middle Eastern reservoirs. The paper presents a summary of all of these findings from North America.