Practically all technological processes in the oil and gas industry take place with participation of three inseparable parameters: pressure, temperature and volume. That is to say, the three parameters are ‘leaders’ that participate in oil and gas field development and oil and gas production. Note that an oil and gas field is not only a complex hydraulic structure but also an intricate ‘offspring’ of Nature. fracturing is the well stimulation method most favored by specialists. However, according to the same statistics, hydraulic fracturing in reservoirs with high-viscosity oil does not always justify the expenses incurred during such process. The reason is that the fluidity of high-viscosity oil, speaking in the language of science, does not obey Newton’s laws, i.e. it differs from the fluidity of water. Such fluids are commonly called non-Newtonian fluids or viscoelastic.

The reason behind failed HF apparently lies in the fact that the pay zone, in lithological terms, can be composed of various formations and substances deposited in them.

Among specialists there is a term ‘dead oil’, the closest analogue to which is tarry paraffinbase asphaltenic oil, i.e. completely dehydrated, degassed oil embedded in the body of the rock mass. Under high pressure this solid compound acquires the properties of a spring: it compresses when squeezed and relaxes in the absence of pressure. Hence, during HF this solid compound of hydrocarbons ‘robs’ the pressure dynamics as a results of which, according to the geophysical studies, it is virtually impossible to make a crack in the body of rock containing ‘dead’ oil because the environment acts like rubber and ‘absorbs’ high pressure.

It is practically impossible to avoid such scenario without calling for assistance from the old friend of pressure and volume – Lady Temperature.

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