Investigation of the effect of foam flow rate on foam-based hydraulic fracturing of shale reservoir rocks with natural fractures: An experimental study

Abstract

Foam-based hydraulic fracturing has been identified as a good solution for the extraction of natural gas from deep shale reservoirs, due to its unique advantages such as low water consumption and high proppant carrying capacity. However, lack of knowledge of foam-based shale fracturing and complex nature of two-phase foam, make it challenging to use in field conditions, and one unclear area is the effect of the foam flow rate on fracturing and fracture characteristics. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of foam flow rate on breakdown pressure, fracture permeability and generated fracture characteristics. In order to achieve this, a series of hydraulic fracturing e..