US-12618315-B2 - Slurry proportioner system

US12618315B2US 12618315 B2US12618315 B2US 12618315B2US-12618315-B2

Abstract

Provided is a proportioner having one or more proportioner inlets to receive a common concentrated proppant fluid comprising a proppant, two or more flow lines fluidly connected to the one or more proportioner inlets, two or more proportioner outlets, each of the two or more proportioner outlets associated with one of the two or more flow lines, one or more fluid inlets, each of the one or more fluid inlets for introducing a proppant-free fluid to the proportioner, and a metering system associated with at least one of the two or more flow lines. Each metering system is positioned upstream of the proportioner outlet of the flow line with which it is associated and is fluidly connected with at least one of the one or more fluid inlets for proportioning one of the proppant-free fluids into the associated flow line at an injection point.

Inventors

Wesley John WARREN
Chad A. Fisher

Assignees

HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240411

Claims (20)

1 . A proportioner comprising: one or more proportioner inlets configured to receive a common concentrated proppant fluid comprising a proppant; two or more flow lines fluidly connected to the one or more proportioner inlets; two or more proportioner outlets, each of the two or more proportioner outlets associated with one of the two or more flow lines; one or more fluid inlets, each of the one or more fluid inlets configured to introduce a proppant-free fluid to the proportioner; at least one metering system associated with at least one of the two or more flow lines, each at least one metering system upstream of the proportioner outlet of the flow line with which it is associated and each metering system fluidly connected with at least one of the one or more fluid inlets and configured for proportioning one of the proppant-free fluids into the associated flow line at an injection point; and a crossover line fluidly connecting each of the two or more flow lines, downstream of the injection point, with at least one other of the two or more flow lines, and a crossover valve on the crossover line, wherein the crossover valve can be opened or closed to permit or prevent fluid flow between the each flow line and the at least one other of the two or more flow lines.
2 . A proportioner comprising: one or more proportioner inlets configured to receive a common concentrated proppant fluid supply comprising a concentrated proppant fluid supply concentration of a proppant; two or more flow lines fluidly connected to the one or more proportioner inlets; two or more proportioner outlets, each of the two or more proportioner outlets associated with one of the two or more flow lines; one or more fluid inlets, each of the one or more fluid inlets configured to introduce a proppant-free fluid to the proportioner; and a first metering system of the proportioner to provide a first proportioner outlet composition via a proportioner outlet of one of the two or more flow lines of the proportioner, and, a second metering system to provide a second proportioner outlet composition via a proportioner outlet of another of the two or more flow lines, wherein the first proportioner outlet composition, the second proportioner outlet composition, or both comprise a proportionate amount of the common concentrated proppant fluid supply, wherein the first proportioner outlet composition has a first proppant concentration and the second proportioner outlet composition has a second proppant concentration, and wherein the first proppant concentration and the second proppant concentration are different, and wherein the first proppant concentration and the second proppant concentration are less than the concentrated proppant fluid supply concentration, and wherein the first metering system provides the first proportioner outlet composition by combining the common concentrated proppant fluid supply with a first proportional stream of a substantially proppant-free fluid, and wherein the second metering system provides the second proportioner outlet composition by combining the common concentrated proppant fluid supply and a second proportional stream of the substantially proppant-free fluid.
3 . The proportioner of claim 2 further comprising a discharge pump on each of the flow lines, and/or wherein the injection point associated with at least one of the two or more flow lines is downstream from the discharge pump on that at least one of the two or more flow lines.
4 . The proportioner of claim 2 , wherein the proportioner outlet associated with a first of the two or more flow lines is fluidly connected with a first well and wherein a proportioner outlet of a second of the two or more flow lines is fluidly connected with a second well, wherein the first well and the second well are different wells.
5 . The proportioner of claim 2 further comprising a control system operable to control operation of the proportioner to provide a fluid composition from each of the proportioner outlets, wherein the fluid composition provided via the proportioner outlet of at least one of the two or more flow lines has a different proppant concentration and/or a different concentration of a proppant-free fluid introduced by at least one of the fluid inlets than the composition provided by the proportioner outlet of at least one other of the two or more flow lines.
6 . The proportioner of claim 2 , wherein each metering system comprises a flow meter and a throttling valve configured to introduce a proppant-free flow rate of the proppant-free fluid introduced by at least one of the one or more fluid inlets into a flow rate of the concentrated proppant fluid in the flow line associated with each of the at least one metering systems.
7 . The proportioner of claim 6 , further comprising a concentrated proppant valve on the each flow line upstream of the injection point, and wherein the proportioner is operable to produce a proppant slurry comprising the proppant from at least one of the two or more proportioner outlets and simultaneously produce a substantially proppant-free fluid from the proportioner outlet of at least one other of the two or more proportioner outlets by closing the concentrated proppant valve on the flow line associated with the at least one other of the two or more proportioner outlets.
8 . The proportioner of claim 2 , wherein the proportioner outlet associated with at least one of the two or more flow lines is fluidly connected with a first fracturing manifold fluidly connected with a first set of fracturing pumps configured to introduce a first dirty fluid into a first well, and wherein the proportioner outlet associated with at least one other of the two or more flow lines is fluidly connected with a second fracturing manifold fluidly connected with a second set of fracturing pumps configured to introduce a second dirty fluid into a second well.
9 . The proportioner of claim 8 , wherein a proppant concentration of the first dirty fluid is different from a proppant concentration of the second dirty fluid.
10 . The proportioner of claim 2 comprising two or more fluid inlets and/or two or more metering systems fluidly connected to each proportioner outlet.
11 . The proportioner of claim 2 , wherein the concentrated proppant fluid comprises a concentrated proppant slurry from two or more mixers.
12 . A method comprising: using the proportioner of claim 2 to produce a first proportioner outlet composition from one of the two or more proportioner outlets, and a second proportioner outlet composition from a second of the two or more proportioner outlets, wherein the first proportioner outlet composition has a first proppant concentration and the second proportioner outlet composition has a second proppant concentration, and wherein the first proppant concentration and the second proppant concentration are different.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising utilizing the first proportioner outlet composition in a wellbore treatment of a first well and utilizing the second proportioner composition in a wellbore treatment of a second well, wherein the first well and the second well are different.
14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein each of the two or more flow lines is associated with a concentrated proppant valve, and wherein the injection point of each of the at least one metering systems is configured to provide proppant-free fluid from one of the one or more fluid inlets to the flow line with which it is associated downstream of the concentrated proppant valve, whereby substantially proppant-free fluid can be produced at the proportioner outlet of that flow line, and wherein the method further comprises: producing a slurry comprising proppant as the first proportioner outlet composition by an open concentrated proppant valve on the flow line associated with the first proportioner outlet; and producing the substantially proppant-free fluid as the second proportioner outlet composition by closing the concentrated proppant valve on the flow line associated with the second proportioner outlet.
15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the proportioner comprises at least three flow lines, and wherein the proportioner further comprises a crossover line fluidly connecting each of the at least three flow lines with at least one other of the at least three flow lines, and a crossover valve on the crossover line that can be opened or closed to permit or prevent fluid flow between the each of the at least three flow lines and the at least one other of the at least three flow lines, and wherein the method further comprises: pumping the first proportioner outlet composition to a first well via a first discharge pump on the flow line associated with the first proportioner outlet; pumping the second proportioner outlet composition to a second well via a discharge pump associated with the flow line associated with the second proportioner outlet; and upon failure of the first discharge pump or the second discharge pump, utilizing a third discharge pump associated with the flow line associated with a third proportioner outlet as backup for the failed discharge pump by opening the crossover valve between the proportioner outlet of the third discharge pump and the proportioner outlet of the failed discharge pump.
16 . A method comprising: providing to a proportioner a concentrated proppant fluid supply comprising a concentrated proppant fluid supply concentration of a proppant; and producing, via a first metering system of the proportioner, a first proportioner outlet composition via a proportioner outlet of one of two or more flow lines of the proportioner, and, via a second metering system of the proportioner, a second proportioner outlet composition via another proportioner outlet of another of the two or more flow lines of the proportioner, wherein the first proportioner outlet composition, the second proportioner outlet composition, or both comprise a proportionate amount of the concentrated proppant fluid supply, wherein the first proportioner outlet composition has a first proppant concentration and the second proportioner outlet composition has a second proppant concentration, and wherein the first proppant concentration and the second proppant concentration are different, and wherein the first proppant concentration and the second proppant concentration are less than the concentrated proppant fluid supply concentration, wherein producing the first proportioner outlet composition comprises combining, via the first metering system, the concentrated proppant fluid supply with a first proportional stream of a substantially proppant-free fluid, and wherein producing the second proportioner outlet composition comprises combining, by the second metering system, the concentrated proppant fluid supply and a second proportional stream of the substantially proppant-free fluid.
17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein both the first proportioner outlet composition and the second proportioner outlet composition comprise a same or different proportionate amount of the concentrated proppant fluid supply.
18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the first proportioner outlet composition comprises an amount of the concentrated proppant fluid supply, wherein the second proportioner outlet composition comprises substantially proppant-free fluid, and wherein producing the first proportioner outlet composition comprises combining the amount of the concentrated proppant fluid supply with a proportional stream of a substantially proppant-free fluid.
19 . The method of claim 16 further comprising utilizing at least one of the two or more flow lines and associated metering systems as backup for at least one other of the two or more flow lines and associated metering systems.
20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the proportioner further comprises a concentrated proppant valve on the each flow line upstream of an injection point at which the concentrated proppant fluid supply is combined with the substantially proppant-free fluid, and wherein the proportioner is operable to produce a proppant slurry comprising the proppant from at least one of two or more proportioner outlets and simultaneously produce a substantially proppant-free fluid from the proportioner outlet of at least one other of the two or more proportioner outlets by closing the concentrated proppant valve on the flow line associated with the at least one other of the two or more proportioner outlets.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS None. STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT Not applicable. REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX Not applicable. BACKGROUND Subterranean hydraulic fracturing is conducted to increase or “stimulate” production from a hydrocarbon well. To conduct a fracturing process, high pressure is used to pump special fracturing fluids, including some that contain propping agents (“proppants”) down-hole and into a hydrocarbon formation to split or “fracture” the rock formation along veins or planes extending from the well-bore. Once the desired fracture is formed, the fluid flow is reversed and the liquid portion of the fracturing fluid is removed. The proppants are intentionally left behind to stop the fracture from closing onto itself due to the weight and stresses within the formation. The proppants thus literally “prop-apart”, or support the fracture to stay open, yet remain highly permeable to hydrocarbon fluid flow since they form a packed bed of particles with interstitial void space connectivity. Sand is one example of a commonly-used proppant. The newly-created-and-propped fracture or fractures can thus serve as new formation drainage area and new flow conduits from the formation to the well, providing for an increased fluid flow rate, and hence increased production of hydrocarbons. Two or more wells clustered together can be stimulated simultaneously with the same fracturing equipment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, reference is now made to the following brief description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein like reference numerals represent like parts. FIG. 1 is a schematic of a proportioner, according to embodiments of this disclosure; FIG. 2A is a schematic of a system, according to embodiments of this disclosure; FIG. 2B is a schematic of another system, according to embodiments of this disclosure; FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a hydraulic fracturing system treating one well, the hydraulic fracturing system comprising a proportioner according to embodiments of the disclosure; FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a hydraulic fracturing system treating three wells, the hydraulic fracturing system comprising a proportioner according to embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a hydraulic fracturing system treating two wells with two pumping groups, the hydraulic fracturing system comprising a proportioner according to embodiments of the disclosure. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a computer system according to embodiments of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION It should be understood at the outset that although illustrative implementations of one or more embodiments are illustrated below, the disclosed systems and methods may be implemented using any number of techniques, whether currently known or not yet in existence. The disclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrative implementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims along with their full scope of equivalents. Throughout this disclosure, a reference numeral followed by an alphabetical character refers to a specific instance of an element and the reference numeral alone refers to the element generically or collectively. Thus, as an example (not shown in the drawings), widget “1a” refers to an instance of a widget class, which may be referred to collectively as widgets “1” and any one of which may be referred to generically as a widget “1”. For example, reference to flow lines 16 can, in instances, include flow line 16A, flow line 16B, flow line 16C, or a combination thereof. A modern fracturing fleet typically includes a water supply, a proppant supply, one or more mixers or blenders, a plurality of frac pumps, and a fracturing manifold connected to the wellhead. The individual units of the fracturing fleet can be connected to a central control unit called a data van. The control unit can control the individual units of the fracturing fleet to provide treatment fluid (e.g., proppant slurry) at a desired rate to a wellhead. The control unit can manage the pump speeds, chemical intake, and proppant density while pumping fracturing fluids and receiving data relating to the pumping from the individual units. Multiple well completion techniques can be used to maximize operational use of equipment and personnel. Some oil fields have multiple wells drilled from a single pad. The placement of multiple wells within a single pad or area allows for a smaller footprint of production equipment. Multiple wells on a single pad also can also allow for hydraulic fracturing multiple wells without relocating the fracturing equipment. One such technique, called zipper fracturing, allows a single fracturing fleet to treat multiple wells by alternating the pumping operation from one well to another well. Another techni