Reservoir management of hydraulically fractured reservoirs can be improved with knowledge of the orientation of hydraulic fractures. Fracture direction can affect where wells are placed, the design of well patterns for EOR floods, the design of fracture treatments, and the stability and fracturing of horizontal wells. This paper presents a field study of the determination of hydraulic fracture direction in the San Juan basin in northwest New Mexico. Data from six different fracture direction techniques were integrated to improve the determination of fracture direction. Integrating results from the six techniques not only improves the accuracy of the results but also allows us to compare the techniques to one another on the basis of reliability of results, operational requirements, and cost effectiveness.
The average of all the data from each of the four wells suggests a hydraulic fracture direction of 41° azimuth in this area of northwest New Mexico. The trends agree with regional in-situ stress direction for the area1. There were only small variations between wells and the fracture direction was consistent with depth over the 300 feet of formation tested. The direction of natural fractures as seen in the core and in the borehole televiewer was similar to the hydraulic fracture direction.
Based on this study and other published reports2-13 on hydraulic fracture/in-situ stress direction, we believe hydraulic fracture direction is best determined by integrating results from multiple techniques in several wells in an area. We find that the ability to determine fracture direction is most affected by the horizontal stress contrast in the area and the presence of paleo-imprints on the rocks. Fracture direction can strongly affect the recovery of hydrocarbons from hydraulically fractured fields and should be a datum that is collected routinely in the development of such fields.
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