Engineering faculty write book about hydraulic fracturing

Flying WV

Three faculty members from West Virginia University’s Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering have written a new book that focuses on the issues related to hydraulic fracturing experiences and workflow in the field.

“Hydraulic Fracturing in Unconventional Reservoirs: Theories, Operations, and Economic Analysis,” written by Hoss Belyadi, Ebrahim Fathi and Fatemeh Belyadi, is a reference tool and guide for field and professional engineers in the oil and gas industry and geoscientists interested in unconventional reservoir development.

Unconventional oil and gas reservoirs are playing an important role in providing clean energy, environmental sustainability and increased security for all nations. Application of horizontal well drilling and multi-stage hydraulic fracturing treatments allow enormous amounts of hydrocarbon to be released from different shale oil/gas reservoirs. Due to production from these tremendous resources in North America and the potential proliferation of production and development technologies, the United States plays a crucial role in changing the global energy landscape in many ways and has led to growing interest in unconventional oil/gas resources all over the world.

However, very limited knowledge on shale reservoir characteristics, and difficulties associated with hydraulic fracturing and production strategies due to the ultra-tight and multi-scale nature of shale structure, gives rise to limited production from these substantial resources. As a result, there is a critical need to develop new technologies that can improve ultimate recovery and minimize the environmental impact and footprint associated with these activities, in addition to meeting the needs of industry, governments and academia.

“One of the primary reasons this book was written is to place the complex nature of the hydraulic fracturing in unconventional reservoirs into a practical approach that can be applied as a workflow for designing fracture treatments in various shale basins around the world,” said Hoss Belyadi, a senior reservoir engineer at CONSOL Energy and adjunct faculty member in the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at WVU. “In addition, this book was written to connect what is being taught in the academic world to the current industry practice-specific focus on unconventional reservoirs due to the lack of publications and materials in these types of reservoirs.

“I am delighted to have had an opportunity to work with Ebrahim Fathi and Fatemeh Belyadi on this book,” said Belyadi, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from WVU. “Our collective effort enabled the book to connect what has been taught in academia to current practice industry practices.” Fathi is an assistant professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering, while Fatemeh Belyadi, who earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from WVU, serves as a teaching assistant professor in the Department.

The book is being published by Gulf Professional Publishing and will be available in November.

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