The PerfXtender™ Propellent System was created as a safe and economic line of propellant products. PerfXtender™ products have been shown to be effective for use in the clean out of casing perforations and mitigation of near-wellbore damage from drilling, cementing, and perforating operations. After extensive testing and being utilized successfully in numerous well applications, Magnum and it’s distributors are offering the PerfXtender™ Propellent System as an additional tool that oil field service companies can provide, as well as an enhancement in the level of demand for their wireline and related services.

The PerfXtender™ system can be conveyed into the wellbore on either wireline or tubing and can be run in tandem with a perforating gun or as propellant alone for open holes or in wellbores where perforations already exist. The system comes in a variety of sizes and configurations for both through-tubing applications or in wells where the tubing has been pulled.

PerfXtender™ treatments employ the deflagration of solid propellant adjacent to a well’s productive interval. The resulting large volumes of high-pressure gas over a short period of time induces fractures in the formation and increases formation permeability for improved communication and flow of hydrocarbons to the wellbore.

Propellants that are suitable for use in formation stimulation must first exhibit physical properties that allow them to remain stable at the extreme temperatures and confining pressures encountered in many wellbores. Secondly, a suitable propellant must have a burn rate that accelerates predictably under these conditions and results in a pressure rise time that falls within defined limits for stimulation treatments to be effective. The peak pressures that are generated during the propellant event must exceed the tensile strength of the adjacent rock to initiate fracturing, yet remain below those pressures that will cause a failure of the rock in compression or possibly damage the wellbore. Lastly, produced gas volumes must also be sufficient to propagate fractures to a distance beyond the wellbore that is effective in improving a well’s production.

The figure below is a plot of the pressure rise-time of a propellant event versus the effective wellbore diameter (inside diameter of the casing) of an oil or gas well. This chart is from the work of Dr. Norm Warpinski of the Sandia National Laboratories. Dr. Warpinski performed propellant treatments in a number of shallow wells and then mined back the overburden to evaluate the types of fractures produced from the use of varying amounts of propellants with a wide range of burn rates. It was found that the pressure rise-time of the propellant was the primary factor in determining the types of fractures produced. The PerfXtender™ formulation of propellant was developed to produce fractures within the Multiple Fracture Regime, and optimize production from oil and gas wells.



PerfXtender™ products are specially tailored and formulated for superior performance in standard operating conditions as well as in harsh down-hole environments. Our propellant system has been used in a large number of wells with depths ranging from a few thousand feet to below 15,000 feet, and have provided a cost-effective means for operators to improve well production and economics while limiting surface impact and logistical support inherent in many other forms of treatment.