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AssigneeSchlumberger Technology Corporation
InventorsIvan Vitalievich Kosarev, Oleg Olegovich Medvedev, Anatoly Vladimirovich Medvedev, Ian Walton
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Hydraulic fracturing an individual reservoir fracturing layer of a subterranean formation to produce heterogeneous proppant placement is given in which pillars of proppant are placed such that the pillars do not extend the entire height of the fracture (for a vertical fracture) but are themselves interrupted by channels so that the channels between the pillars form pathways that lead to the wellbore. The method combines methods of introducing slugs of proppant-carrying and proppant-free fluids through multiple clusters of perforations within a single fracturing layer of rock, with methods of ensuring that the slugs exiting the individual clusters do not merge.
A method for heterogeneous proppant placement in a fracture in a fracturing layer penetrated by a wellbore, the method comprising a slugging step comprising injecting alternating slugs of thickened proppant-free fluid and proppant-carrying thickened fluid into the fracturing layer above fracturing pressure through a plurality of clusters of perforations in the fracturing layer, wherein the slugs of proppant-carrying thickened fluid form pillars of proppant upon fracture closure.
A method for heterogeneous proppant placement in a fracture in a fracturing layer, the method comprising:
A method for heterogeneous proppant placement in a fracture in a fracturing layer comprising:
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