Methods of stimulating geological formations with acidic fracturing fluids

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12297730-B1
Application number	US-202418422524-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 25, 2024
Priority date	Jan 25, 2024
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

A method of stimulating a geological formation and sequestering CO 2 in the geological formation may include positioning an acidic fracturing fluid comprising dissolved CO 2 and CO 2 microbubbles and/or CO 2 nanobubbles in the geological formation, hydraulic fracturing the geological formation, acidizing the geological formation with the acidic fracturing fluid, thereby increasing a permeability of the geological formation, and sequestering CO 2 by reacting the CO 2 in the acidic fracturing fluid with reactive rock in the geological formation to form carbonates.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of stimulating a geological formation, the method comprising:
positioning an acidic fracturing fluid comprising dissolved CO 2 and at least one of CO 2 microbubbles or CO 2 nanobubbles in the geological formation, wherein the acidic fracturing fluid is injected in the geological formation at a pressure above a fracturing pressure of the geological formation thereby hydraulically fracturing the geological formation;
acidizing the geological formation with the acidic fracturing fluid, thereby increasing a permeability of the geological formation; and
sequestering CO 2 by reacting the CO 2 in the acidic fracturing fluid with reactive rock in the geological formation to form carbonates.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the positioning comprises passing the acidic fracturing fluid through an injection well casing to contact the reactive rock in the geological formation.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidic fracturing fluid is formed by:
dissolving gaseous CO 2 in an aqueous solution to form a dissolved CO 2 solution; and
injecting CO 2 via at least one of microbubbles or nanobubbles into the dissolved CO 2 solution, thereby forming the acidic fracturing fluid.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the dissolved CO 2 solution is substantially free of free-phase CO 2 .

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidic fracturing fluid comprises greater than or equal to 5 weight percent and less than or equal to 35 weight percent CO 2 , based on the total weight of the acidic fracturing fluid.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 in acidic fracturing fluid comprises less than or equal to 35 weight percent supercritical CO 2 , based on the total weight of CO 2 in the acidic fracturing fluid.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidic fracturing fluid does not comprise supercritical CO 2 .

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidic fracturing fluid consists essentially of water, carbonic acid, and CO 2 .

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydraulic fracturing comprises injecting the acidic fracturing fluid in the geological formation at a pressure above the geological formation fracturing pressure.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first portion of the acidic fracturing fluid is injected into the geological formation at a pressure below the geological formation fracturing pressure, and a second portion of the acidic fracturing fluid is injected into the geological formation at a pressure above the geological formation fracturing pressure.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidizing comprises treating the geological formation with the dissolved CO 2 in the acidic fracturing fluid.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidizing does not comprise treating the geological formation with a strong acid.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidizing does not comprise treating the geological formation with an organic acid.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidic fracturing fluid does not comprise a strong acid.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the acidic fracturing fluid does not comprise an organic acid.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geological formation comprises a water injection well, and the method comprises injecting the acidic fracturing fluid into the water injection well.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geological formation comprises a water production well, and the method comprises producing water from the water production well, wherein the acidic fracturing fluid comprises the water from the water production well.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geological formation comprises a water injection well and a water production well, and the method further comprises:
producing water from the water production well;
dissolving CO 2 in the water produced from the water production well to form the acidic fracturing fluid; and
injecting the acidic fracturing fluid into the water injection well, thereby further sequestering the CO 2 in the geological formation.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive rock comprises mafic rock, ultramafic rock, or combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Arkadakskiy Serguey Viktorov
• Ahmed Zeyad Tareq
• Kunnummal Noushad

Classifications

• E21B43/164

  Injecting CO2 or carbonated water (in combination with organic material C09K8/594) · CPC title

• E21B41/0064

  Carbon dioxide sequestration (storing fluids in porous layers B65G5/005) · CPC title

• E21B43/27 Primary

  by use of eroding chemicals, e.g. acids · CPC title