Enhanced gas recovery program. First quarterly report: fiscal year 1978, October 1977--December 1977

Technical Report · Thu Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

OSTI ID:6656085

Schuster, C L; Northrop, D A ^[1]

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1. eds.

A diverse series of field experiments were conducted. These included a deep limited entry massive fracture, a shallow tar sand horizontal fracture, a chemical explosive fracture in the Devonian Shale, and an interface experiment of the Nevada Test Site. The deep fracture in Utah was evidently of insignificant length for the fracture orientation to be determined. In the Canadian horizontal fracture, the fracture growth was detected; however, any orientation data was either masked by high telluric currents or by the symmetrical nature of the fracture. A surface seismic array confirmed that the majority of a chemical explosive fracture did detonate. Seismic recordings were also made during the NTS fracture tests and their analysis should reveal fracture phenomenon and locations. With respect to the NTS interface experiment, two hydraulic fractures were created above and below a geologic interface between ashfall tuff and welded tuff formations with significantly different material properties. Complete flow and pressure data were recorded for these fractures which were designed to have 50 ft height and total 600 ft length. Subsequent mineback will focus upon fracture behavior at the formation interface. One fracture has been located by exploratory drilling and mineback plans are being defined. Evaluation of a previously conducted staged proppant experiment at NTS continues with quantitative examination of the in situ stresses in the experiment region. These are being measured by small volume (less than 50 gal) hydraulic fracture tests in boreholes from the tunnel. It is anticipated that these data will aid in the explanation of the complexity of the fracture system observed in the original fracture test.

• Research Organization: Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-04-0789
• OSTI ID: 6656085
• Report Number(s): SAND-78-1172
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
030900* -- Natural Gas-- Artificial Stimulation
Plowshare-- (-1989)
04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040300 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Drilling
Fracturing & Mining
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
BLACK SHALES
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CENTRAL REGION
COMMINUTION
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
DEVONIAN PERIOD
ELECTRIC LOGGING
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EXPLOSIVE FRACTURING
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FRACTURING
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
HYDRAULIC FRACTURING
NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NEVADA TEST SITE
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
OIL SANDS
OIL SHALES
PALEOZOIC ERA
PROPPING AGENTS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
RESOURCES
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SONIC LOGGING
USA
UTAH
WELL LOGGING
WEST VIRGINIA