Energized fluids containing carbon dioxide (CO2) are used successfully in hydraulic fracturing to boost hydrocarbon recovery.
But while undoubtedly improving recovery, they carry the potential to initially increase the amount of CO2 contained in the early flowback natural gas exceeding natural gas sales pipeline specifications.
Well economics places emphasis on initial production to maximize favorable economic returns. There can be dramatic production decline of natural gas wells — as much as 75 percent in the first year. So it is vital to ensure even early flowback gas is useable. As such, flaring — an environmentally unfriendly operation which results greenhouse gases, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other hazardous air pollutant emissions — became the most common practice.
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