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Stimulation design for short precise hydraulic fractures

Journal Article · · SPEJ, Soc. Pet. Eng. J.; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/10313-PA· OSTI ID:5237001

This report discusses the philosophy, design, and implementation of small, precise, hydraulic fracture stimulations as applied in a micellar pilot in Salt Creek field, located in central Wyoming. Wellbore damage and relatively low permeability were resulting in low injection/withdrawal rates in the 1-acre (4046-m/sup 2/) pilot in this field. Unchanged, these low rates would extend the pilot life by an unacceptable amount and also result in oil production rates too small for meaningful analysis. Accordingly, the decision was made to fracturestimulate the pilot wells on the basis of reservoir stimulation, which showed that the creation of very short (90 ft (29.5 m) tip-to-tip) fractures would not ''harm'' evaluation of the pilot's performance. Normal stimulation practices in this area would not give the control desired for this pilot situation to create a 90-ft(29.5-m-) long fractures in a formation with a thickness of 100 ft (32.8 m). The procedure that was developed consisted of measuring bottomhole treating pressure (BHTP) while pumping the pad, using these data to calculate the required sand-laden fluid volume, and then switching directly from pad to heavy sand concentration. A postappraisal of the treatments showed that BHTP measurement was necessary since the pressure varied from theoretical behavior for each well. The stimulations performed generally were successful (fracture design/PFOT lengths of 156/146, 90/100, 134/150, and 55/20), confirming that it is possible to create short, controlled hydraulic fractures by using the procedure outlined in this paper.

Research Organization:
Amoco Production Co.
OSTI ID:
5237001
Journal Information:
SPEJ, Soc. Pet. Eng. J.; (United States), Journal Name: SPEJ, Soc. Pet. Eng. J.; (United States) Vol. 25:3; ISSN SSPJD
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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