Publications

The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies is enabling the production of vast quantities of natural gas thought to be uneconomic just a decade ago. The composition of hydraulic fracturing fluids varies depending on the formation. The vast majority of wells are fracked with water-based fluids. These are composed of over 99.5% water and proppant and less than 0.5% additives. Some of these additives like guar emulsions, friction reducers and acidizingpretreatment solutions rely on hydrocarbon fluids for efficient formulation and delivery. There has been much discussion in the public domain about concerns with fracking – typically centered on drinking water contamination. Unfortunately these are not always based on sound science. Nevertheless, concerns are being raised by citizens as well as government entities regarding the compositions of frack fluids. Fluid components generating the most concerns are aromatics and specifically BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) as these are widely recognized by the public and strictly regulated. Historically, the industry has used diesel fuel as an inexpensive, convenient hydrocarbon for fracturing fluids. Diesel fuel is effective, but contains high concentrations of aromatics and BTEX. A costeffective way to mitigate these concerns is to use a de-aromatized hydrocarbon fluid with a boiling range tailored to minimize the potential of BTEX in the fluid. Beyond tailoring the physical properties of the * ExxonMobil Chemical Asia Pacific ** ExxonMobil Chemical Company fluid, it can also be thoroughly hydrogenated to lower total aromatics content and saturate any remaining BTEX species. De-aromatized hydrocarbon fluids have been proven to be very effective in fracturing fluid formulations. ExxonMobil Chemical has a long history of providing tailored de-aromatized hydrocarbon fluids to the natural resource extraction industry. We have developed Escaid™ PathFrac™ Fluid specifically for hydraulic fracturing formulations to deliver performance in the most demanding applications while meeting or exceeding evolving public, regulatory and environmental challenges.