The primary method for production Achimov tight-oil reserves is hydraulic fracturing. The high efficiency of the hydraulic fracturing fluid, as observed in actual field operations on these reserves, contributes to the development of fractures in the vertical plane. Proppant is distributed along this plane, and the anchored width tends to form a "monolayer" throughout the fracture volume. Considering that there are studies in the global experience on the proppant failure dependency on the layers number in the pack, as well as previously obtained theoretical dependencies by the authors, it can be assumed that fractures with proppant width close to a "monolayer" will not lead to achieving economically viable well productivity under the the research object geomechanical conditions. The proppant will break, the broken particles will be pressed into the rock formation, and the fractures will "collapse." To confirm the theoretical research and industry experience presented earlier, our own modified laboratory program studies has been conducted. This program allows addressing the deficiencies of the standard method for investigating proppant crush resistance to reproduce the actual width of the hydraulic fracture. The study involves a series of tests on the crushing of proppant with variable height in a cell for crush testing. The results confirm that the critical onset of crushability is at three layers of proppant. Proppant with smaller dimensions better resists crushing. The use of high-strength proppants in the shell is advisable for the application in Achimov tight-oil reserves. Qualitative photo control of crushed particles confirms that only a limited amount of proppant is subjected to external load regardless of changes.
