What is it about?
The efficiency of a hydraulic fracture treatment depends primarily on the dimensions and orientation of propped fractures. Our numerical studies have shown the capability of an electrode-based resistivity tool for propped fracture diagnosis in steel-cased wellbores. The tool is highly sensitive to fracture's location, size and angle.
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Why is it important?
Most of the existing fracture diagnosis technique can not track proppant directly. Electromagnetic (EM) borehole measurement methods, although having been proposed to directly map proppants with distinct physical properties, are severely limited in steel-cased wellbores. By using a novel design for low frequency downhole electrical measurements, we can remedy these shortcoming of existing methods. Numerical studies prove that the proposed tool has remarkable investigation depth and high sensitivity to fracture location, size and angle.
Perspectives
I hope this article paves the way for a new generation of logging tool, that can effectively map proppant distribution in hydraulic fractures. Since most of the horizontal wells nowadays are completed with steel casing, this work can hopefully contribute to a widely used tool in the future, which can offer critical information for reservoir characterization and fracture treatment design.
Peng Zhang
The University of Texas at Austin
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Numerical study of an electrode-based resistivity tool for fracture diagnostics in steel-cased wellbores, Geophysics, March 2018, Society of Exploration Geophysicists,
DOI: 10.1190/geo2017-0355.1.
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