From Completion Efficiency to Chemical Efficiency
Across U.S. shale plays, operators have achieved remarkable efficiency gains in drilling and completions. Wells are placed with precision, stage designs are optimized, and capital is being deployed more effectively than ever.
Still, performance plateaus remain—despite greater sophistication and investment—often rooted in subtle but critical factors such as formation mineralogy, oil composition, brine salinity, and how the chosen chemistry interacts with these variables.
In many shale plays, variations in pore structure, organic matter, and fluid compatibility influence how hydraulic fracturing fluids interact with the rock—and ultimately, how much oil is recovered. When the chemistry doesn’t match the formation conditions, cleanup efficiency drops, hydrocarbons stay trapped, and ROI suffers.
Frac surfactants bridge that gap by lowering interfacial tension (IFT) and capillary pressure, altering wettability, and improving fluid cleanup to mobilize hydrocarbons trapped within the rock matrix. However, the performance of many conventional surfactants and blended chemistries lose stability under high salinity, temperature, or complex mineralogy, or create emulsions that block rather than release trapped oil.
That’s where SUSTAIN® SF101, a next-generation biosurfactant-based technology from Locus Bio-Energy, delivers measurable improvement—optimizing fluid–rock interaction to enhance recovery, consistency, and overall profitability.
Why Conventional Frac Surfactants Fall Short in High-Salinity Shale
In tight shale formations like the Delaware Basin, conventional surfactants face a fundamental limitation: they can’t effectively penetrate the micro- and nanopores where much of the oil remains trapped. The extent of these challenges depends on several factors, including pore size distribution, mineral composition, and oil characteristics such as viscosity, paraffin, and asphaltene content. These variables influence how effectively completion fluids can contact and mobilize hydrocarbons at the microscopic level.
The economic impact is significant: leaving hydrocarbons behind translates directly to lower netbacks, reduced EUR, and diminished asset value. Each barrel of unrecovered oil represents lost revenue that completion optimization alone can’t recover once the well is producing.
Even with optimized mechanical designs, limited fluid contact leaves hydrocarbons behind. The result is slower oil cut, lower initial production (IP), and faster decline rates that cap long-term recovery.
The next phase of efficiency is chemical efficiency: improving the interaction between hydraulic fracturing fluids and formation to extract more value from every stage of the well.
Achieving that requires a new generation of frac surfactants—ones that performs reliably under real reservoir conditions.
Not Your Ordinary Surfactant
Conventional frac surfactants were never designed for the realities of tight shale. Their larger molecular structures limit penetration and performance—especially in high-salinity, high-temperature environments.
SUSTAIN® biosurfactant-based technology overcomes these limitations through molecular-scale and adaptive chemistry. Their ultra-small micelles (~3 nanometers) penetrate micro- and nanopores, improving fluid cleanup and contacting hydrocarbons that other systems can’t reach. This high surface activity and strong affinity for both oil and water phases allow them to alter wettability more completely and restore a water-wet environment across complex mineral surfaces.
These mechanisms lead to measurable, long-term production benefits:
- Faster oil cut from improved flowback
- Higher IP from greater hydrocarbon access
- Sustained uplift as the formation continues to release oil over time
Mechanism of Action: How SUSTAIN® Works:
- Nanopore Penetration: Ultra-small micelles (~3–5 nm) access shale nanopores and microfractures (3–40 nm) unreachable by conventional surfactants.
- IFT & Capillary Pressure Reduction: Lowers interfacial tension, reducing capillary forces and enabling trapped oil release.
- Enhanced Wettability: Restores the rock to a water-wet state to promote sustained hydrocarbon flow.
- Thermal & Salinity Stability: Maintains performance in high-salinity, high-temperature reservoirs like the Delaware Basin.
Importantly, higher IP with SUSTAIN® reflects greater total recovery, not faster depletion. The uplift reflects improved access to previously unrecovered hydrocarbons, not accelerated decline —a key advantage over conventional frac surfactants that may accelerate production without increasing total recovery.
Proven in the Field
Laboratory testing validated the chemistry behind SUSTAIN®’s field success. The biosurfactant-based system achieved a 95% reduction in interfacial tension (IFT) at both 0.5 and 1.0 gpt, demonstrating its ability to mobilize trapped hydrocarbons even under high-salinity conditions.
The formulation also altered rock wettability toward a more water-wet state and exhibited non-emulsifying, thermally stable performance, ensuring more efficient flowback and oil recovery.
These lab-verified mechanisms translated directly to the field. A major Delaware Basin operator implemented SUSTAIN® during Wolfcamp Formation completions to improve production consistency and ROI.
Field results were clear:
SUSTAIN® delivered up to 20% more oil, 15% more gas and a 12x ROI compared to untreated offsets, according to Enverus-validated data.
Treated wells exhibited faster oil mobilization, stronger initial production (IP), and sustained uplift—proving that optimized chemistry can deliver measurable gains without altering completion design.
Read the full Delaware Basin Case StudyBeyond the Frac: Extending Performance
The same biosurfactant innovation that powers SUSTAIN® continues to drive value across the well’s life:
- AssurEOR FLOW® disperses wax and organic deposits that restrict flow in producing wells, restoring a water-wet state on rock and shale surfaces and preparing the formation for stimulation.
- AcidBoost® enhances acid efficiency with dual-action detergency and surfactancy, improving cleanup and performance in remediation and stimulation jobs.
- AssurEOR STIM® mobilizes hydrocarbons trapped in the near-wellbore rock matrix and increases flow in producing wells, improving recovery and reducing decline rates.
Together, these biosurfactant-based formulations help operators extend production, sustain recovery, and maintain profitability across the full well lifecycle.
The Takeaway
Operators have mastered drilling and completion efficiency. The next frontier is chemical efficiency—and SUSTAIN® is proving what’s possible.
With field-verified results showing up to 20% more production, lower water cut, and 12x ROI, biosurfactant-driven chemistry is redefining hydraulic fracturing efficiency in the Delaware Basin and beyond.
More production. Measurable ROI. Sustainable performance.
That’s SUSTAIN®.
Explore the Delaware Basin Case Study