Competition between transverse and axial hydraulic fractures in horizontal well
An apparatus and methods for forming a transverse fracture in a subterranean formation surrounding a wellbore including measuring a property along the length of the formation surrounding the wellbore, forming a stress profile of the formation, identifying a region of the formation to remove using the stress profile, removing the region with a device in the wellbore, and introducing a fluid into the wellbore, wherein a transverse fracture is more likely to form than if the region was not removed. Some embodiments benefit from computing the energy required to initiate and propagate a fracture from the region, optimizing the fluid introduction to minimize the energy required, and optimizing the geometry of the region.
50101438
Patent number | Country code | Kind code | Date issued |
US10267131 | US | B2 | 2019-04-23 |
US2015218925 | US | A1 | 2015-08-06 |
CN104755699 | CN | A | 2015-07-01 |
WO2014028432 | WO | A1 | 2014-02-20 |