The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 24, 1991
Filed:
Oct. 10, 1990
Applicant:
Inventor:
Joseph H Schmidt, Dallas, TX (US);
Assignee:
Atlantic Richfield Company, Los Angeles, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
E21B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
166280 ; 166308 ;
Abstract
A hydraulic fracturing method for earth formations which are penetrated by inclined wellbores wherein the near wellbore region which exhibits the maximum tensile stress in response to hydraulic pressure in the wellbore is determined, and cased wellbores are perforated at the point of maximum tensile stress resulting from fracture initiation. The fracture is subsequently propagated and propped open by proppant-laden fluids having progressively increasing proppant concentrations so that the near wellbore region of the fracture is held propped open to maintain sufficient conductivity between the main fracture body and the wellbore.