A New Recipe for Friction-Reducer Suppliers: Polymer Plus Frac Water, Minus the Cost

The argument for making friction reducer on site is simple: only one truck is required to deliver dry polymer vs. three loads required for the same amount of liquid additive. For Downhole Chemical Solutions (DCS), reducing the number of trips and the amount of chemicals needed to create a stable liquid by mixing it as needed on site reduces the average cost of a gallon of friction reducer by around 30%, said Mark Van Domelen, vice president of technology for DCS. “The business is very cutthroat and competitive on the pricing of polyacrylamide. We can reduce the cost further on friction reducer,” using dry polymer, he said. Polyacrylamide is generally described as the key component in friction reducers. Suppliers also add some ingredients to create a stable liquid and others that are supposed to improve performance. When DCS delivers dry polymer to a well pad to mix it on-site, the only other ingredient is water provided by the customer. It has been a winning strategy change for the private company; it has grown rapidly, even during last year’s slump. DCS increased the number of mixing units from one to 16, and dry polymer sales have grown from 10% to 90%, Van Domelen said. One of the company’s customers is John Blevins, the chief operating officer for Houston-based Hibernia Resources III and an early adopter who was a lead author of a paper on making friction reducer on site while fracturing (SPE 204176). Blevin, who uses the words “friction reducer” and “polymer” interchangeably, is the rare C-level executive who likes to manage operations from a frac van at a company that normally completes one pad at a time. The polymer is polyacrylamide. When Blevin works with DCS on a well, he purchases it directly from one of the few chemical companies that will produce the polymer based on his specifications. The price on the DCS invoice will be a price per pound that covers the cost of the polymer and the service. At Hibernia, a small private-equity and employee-owned company, there is a powerful incentive to pay close attention to the details. “When we spend a nickel, that nickel is divided among us at some point in time. If we are efficiently frugal, we are going to be better off in the long run,” Blevins said. The paper, which was presented at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC), included a chart showing stage-by-stage costs, with the average cost for dry stages ranging from 27% to 31% lower than similar stages that were fractured using liquids. The simplicity of the mix is a plus for Blevins whose company is especially focused on how chemicals are likely to react downhole. “We did a 6-month study before we pumped anything in the ground to make sure we had the right combination” of fracturing additives, he said. “We do study nearly every well and every landing zone to ensure the chemicals used are compatible.”