The tight gas sandstones of the Cotton Valley Forma· tion of East Texas require massive hydraulic fracture treatments to achieve economic rates of production. Engineering data indicate a well will efficiemly draill a maximum of 160 acres. Optimization of well spacing will require a knowl. edge of induced fracture orientation. At the presetlt time there is no reliable method u.;hereby this orientation can be measured.Oriented caliper data obtained from dipmeter logs run in fifty wells were used to investigate the borehole geometry through the Cotton Valley sandstones. It was found that quite often the sandstones when drilled through would "spall" or "wash-out" and that the borehole would be elliptical in shape with the major axis always oriented in a NW/SE direction. The opinion of the authors is that the consistency itl orientation is due to in-situ stresses within the rock, and a prediction can be made that hydraulically induced fractures in the Cotton Valley sandstones of East Texas will be oriented in a NW/SE direction.Primed in USA.
The tight gas sandstones of the Cotton Valley Formation of East Texas require massive hydraulic fracture treatments to achieve economic rates of production. Engineering data indicate a well will efficiently drain a maximum of 160 acres. Optimization of well spacing will require a knowledge of induced fracture orientation. At the present time there is not reliable method where by this orientation can be measured. Oriented caliper data obtained from dipmeter logs run in fifty wells were used to investigate the borehole geometry through the Cotton Valley sandstones. it was found that quite often the sandstones when drilled through would "spall" or "wash-out" and that the borehole would be elliptical in shape with the major axis always oriented in a NW/SE direction. The opinion of the authors is that the consistency in orientation is due to in-situ stresses within the rock, and a prediction can be made that hydraulically induced fractures in the Cotton Valley sandstones of East Texas will be oriented in a NW/SE direction.
Although shallow gas production from the Upper Cretaceous began in North Louisiana before 1890, the first commercial exploitation began with the discovery of the Caddo field in 1905. The discovery of the Monroe field in 1916 made North Louisiana one of the major gas-producing areas of the world. As technology progressed and shallow reservoirs were depleted, deeper drilling found substantial reserves of gas in Lower Cretaceous and Upper Jurassic formations.
Wasteful practices from the very beginning—blowouts, “wild” wells, cratering, fires, and formation damage—led to a series of progressive legislative acts and regulations. The concepts of common carriers, unitization, proration, and controlled well spacing were developed very early, beginning in 1906, and culminated in the general Act 157 of 1940, one of the most progressive, all-purpose conservation laws in the country and the world.
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