Northwestern University Technological Institute
Tight Shale Gas-Hydraulic Fracturing
Seminar Series
How can we Greatly Improve
Hydraulic Fracturing Efficiency
Sidney Green
Schlumberger Senior Advisor & Univ. of Utah Research Professor
April 30, 2013
The Big Invention
Complex Formations
10 feet
10 microns
10 inches
“A Picture is worth 10,000 words”,
but the correct mental picture of
hydraulic fracturing of horizontal
wells is priceless
Sidney Green, London Shale Gas Summit, 2010
Vertical Well Fracture Simulation
Fracture Length (ft)
Re
lative
De
pth
(ft)
0 500 1000 1500
-400
-300
-200
-100
0
100
Fra
ctu
re W
idth
(in
)
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
3-D
Fracture
Simulation
h
L
Ideal Case Horizontal Well
Fracture Stimulation
The Real Case
Fracture
Complexity After Closure
Fracture Intersection with Plane of
Weakness
9
. Laboratory Large Block Tests
10
Homogeneous
Rock Gives
“Penny” Shaped
Fracture
11
Large Block Test
12
Block with Inclined Discontinuities
• 25% less water and 40% less proppant used
• Saved already 5 million barrels of water and 700 million
pounds of proppant
• Saved 30,000 proppant and water hauling road journeys
• Average increase in production greater than 20%
• Over 320 wells treated; virtually no well screen-outs
New Fracture System
Questions
