Giovanni Grasselli

University of Toronto

Derisking hydraulic fracturing: sponsored research's role in boosting production, cutting Costs, and reducing CO₂ footprint

In 2019, a University of Toronto led collaborative research initiative studied the mechanical effects of surfactants on hydraulic fracturing operations within the Montney formation. This study primarily sought to determine if surfactants could lower the breakdown pressure needed to initiate fracturing. We tested this in the laboratory by conducting hydraulic fracturing on two cubic Montney reservoir samples under identical polyaxial stress conditions (tests B2-01 and B2-02, Abdelaziz 2023). The results from both tests exhibited similar mechanical behaviors, suggesting that surfactants did not aid the initiation of fracturing. Following these findings, the operating company decided to discontinue the use of surfactants across all its operations. Since this decision, over 260 wells have been successfully completed, yielding operational savings of approximately $8 million. More notably, these wells have achieved an average production increase of 30%, according to public data from the British Columbia Energy Regulator (BCER). Despite historically low market prices, this surge in production has resulted in a multi-billion-dollar revenue increase. Additionally, this heightened production efficiency—achieved without additional work—suggests a 30% reduction in the CO₂ equivalent emissions for the natural gas produced compared to that from wells completed with surfactants.