Patent ID: 11905813
Assignee: EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING COMPANY
Field: Basic materials chemistry (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC E  C | IPC C  E

Claim 0:
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.