Mobil Oil Corporation

A Wadood El-Rabaa

Malcolm K Strubhar

George P Moeckel

Jon E Olson

Connie R Woehr

A subsurface formation surrounding a borehole is hydraulically fractured when a fracturing fluid is supplied down through the borehole by way of a fluid injection line from the surface of the earth. Pressure drop is measured along the injection line as fracturing fluid flows therethrough. Both fracture closure and minimum in-situ stress are determined at the point where such pressure drop is equal only to a hydrostatic pressure difference along the injection line.

Method for determining closure of a hydraulically induced in-situ

Method of hydraulic fracturing of a subterranean formation comprising drilling a deviated wellbore in a direction parallel to a desired fracture direction, and supplying fracturing fluid through the wellbore to the formation. The average net pressure on the fluid is maximized in a fracture formed in the formation by pumping the fracturing fluid at a maximum rate, and by using a high viscosity fracturing fluid. Maximization of the average net pressure acts to extend the fracture in a direction parallel to the direction of the wellbore. The amount of the extension of the fracture is a function of the ratio of the average net pressure to the horizontal stress difference, whereby the higher the ratio, the greater the amount of the extension.

Wellbore guided hydraulic fracturing

A seismic system is placed in a predetermined orientation with respect to a surface of a formation, and a low viscosity substance is introduced between the sensor system and the surface of the formation. The substance has a composition formulated for stiffening in situ by increasing viscosity to provide a mechanical bond and an acoustical signal transmission coupling between the sensor system and the formation. After completion of the seismic operation, the stiffened substance is contacted with a stimulus for breaking the stiffened substance and thereby break the mechanical bond. Thereafter, the sensor system is recovered.

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Plano, TX, United States of America

A Wadood El-Rabaa