# US 11,905,813 B2 · Hydraulic fracturing with density-tunable heavy fracturing fluids > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,905,813 B2 - Document ID: US11905813B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/055,206 - Filed: 2022-11-14 - Published: 2023-06-08 - Granted: 2024-02-20 - Earliest claimed: 2021-12-06 - Assignees: ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company - Applicants: ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company - Inventors: Timothy J. Nedwed; Dragan Stojkovic; Lee J. Hall - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11905813B2 ## CPC - E21B 43/26: by forming crevices or fractures - E21B 43/267: reinforcing fractures by propping - C09K 8/62: Compositions for forming crevices or fractures - C09K 8/64: Oil-based compositions - C09K 8/665: {containing inorganic compounds (proppants C09K8/80)} - C09K 8/80: Compositions for reinforcing fractures, e.g. compositions of proppants used to keep the fractures open - E21B: EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS - C09K: MATERIALS FOR MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS, NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE ## Abstract A slurry including a density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid and a method for completing a hydrocarbon well using such a slurry are provided herein. The slurry includes a proppant and the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid, where the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid includes a pseudo heavy fluid suspension, a concentrated aqueous solution of a soluble heavy compound, and/or a high-density organic solution. The density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid is between 1.25 grams/milliliter (g/ml) and 3.4 g/ml. Moreover, the density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid is selected based on the density of the proppant. According to the method provided herein, the slurry is used to provide for more effective placement of the proppant within the fractures than can be achieved using only a slurry including conventional fracturing fluid and the proppant. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for completing a hydrocarbon well using a density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid, the method comprising: positioning a perforation device within a tubular conduit of a downhole tubular extending through a wellbore within a subsurface region, wherein the perforation device is positioned within the tubular conduit at a location of a particular stage of the wellbore; perforating the downhole tubular using the perforation device to define perforations within the downhole tubular; pumping a conventional fracturing fluid into the tubular conduit to fracture areas of the subsurface region that are proximate to the perforations, forming corresponding fractures within the subsurface region, wherein the conventional fracturing fluid has a density of 1.2 grams/milliliter (g/ml) or less; flowing a slurry comprising the conventional fracturing fluid and a proppant into the fractures, via the perforations, to prop the fractures with the proppant; flowing a slurry comprising a density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid and the proppant into the fractures, via the perforations, to further prop the fractures with the proppant, wherein the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid comprises at least one of a pseudo heavy fluid suspension, a concentrated aqueous solution of a soluble heavy compound, or a high-density organic solution, and wherein a density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid is higher than a density of the conventional fracturing fluid; returning a slurry comprising the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid and the conventional fracturing fluid to a wellhead of the wellbore; and recovering at least a portion of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid from the slurry; and wherein the wellbore comprises at least one additional stage; and wherein the method further comprises repeating the method for each stage of the wellbore. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid based, at least in part, on the density of the proppant. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, comprising selecting the density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid to be within 1.5 grams/milliliter (g/ml) of the density of the proppant. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein flowing the slurry comprising the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid and the proppant into the fractures further comprises adjusting the density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid to achieve a specified settling velocity for the proppant. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein adjusting the density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid comprises increasing the density of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid to encourage the proppant to settle further from the wellbore within an extended region of the fractures. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising providing the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid with a density of between 1.25 grams/milliliter (g/ml) and 3.4 g/ml. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid comprises the pseudo heavy fluid suspension, and wherein recovering at least the portion of the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid from the slurry comprises flowing the slurry through a separation device that is configured to separate the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid from the conventional fracturing fluid. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: reconditioning the recovered density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid; and reusing the reconditioned density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid within at least one of the wellbore or another wellbore. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid comprises at least the pseudo heavy fluid suspension, wherein the pseudo heavy fluid suspension comprises a suspension of fine particles, wherein the fine particles comprise a particle size within a range of 0.002 millimeters (mm) to 0.05 mm in diameter, and wherein the fine particles comprise at least one of ferrosilicon, magnetite, hematite, sand, barite, or galena. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid comprises at least the concentrated aqueous solution of the soluble heavy compound, and wherein the soluble heavy compound within the concentrated aqueous solution comprises a tungsten compound. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, where the tungsten compound comprises at least one of sodium polytungstate (SPT), lithium heteropolytungstate (LST), or ammonium paratungstate (AMT). ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the density-tunable heavy fracturing fluid comprises at least the high-density organic solution, and wherein the high-density organic solution comprises at least one of bromoform, tetrabromoethane, or methylene iodide.