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Hydraulic fracturing exerts transient geomechanical forces near the wellbore, enabling a brief time interval in which a second hydraulic fracture can be created in a different direction.

While many factors may influence fracture-height evolution in multilayer formations, the consensus is that the so-called “equilibrium height belonging to a certain treating pressure” provides an upper limit, at least for nonnaturally fractured media.

An area of great interest to those researching flowback is the interaction of water and salt inside the shale reservoir. After a well is stimulated, the flowback fluids tend to show a rising concentration of salt that falls back to near zero over time.

On the far end of the flowback spectrum is a completion process called soakback. If the well has to be shut in until takeaway capacity is available, the completion fluids soak into the shale rock. Flowback analysis can help understand what happens in the formation.

A new unconventional proppant technology—a rod-shaped proppant—delivered 25% higher oil per net pay compared with offset wells using conventional proppant.

Most shale producers in North America have given little thought to the flowback stage following hydraulic fracturing. Others have come to realize it represents a valuable opportunity to learn more about their wells.

A  service using pressure data from a few nearby unconventional wells to map fracturing will soon be for sale.

Approximately 5% of world annual gas production is being flared or vented. This is equivalent to approximately 110–140 billion m3 (Bcm) of gas, and equates to the combined gas consumption of ­Central and South America in 2013.

For the past 2 decades, the use of DNA sequencing technology has largely been relegated to the domains of criminal forensics and the healthcare industry. One company is betting that the shale industry soon will join that list.

A company known for being a pioneer in methods built on imaging ultratight rock at the core level has built a business testing drilling cuttings to help identify productive, fracturable rock to help operators design better completions.