Abstract
The hydraulic fracturing of arbitrarily oriented and horizontal wells is made challenging by the far more complicated near-well fracture geometry compared to that of conventional vertical wells. This geometry is important both for hydraulic fracture propagation and the subsequent post-treatment well performance. Fracture tortuosity of arbitrarily oriented and horizontal wells is likely to cause large initiation pressures and reduction in the fracture widths. This paper presents a comprehensive study of the effects of important variables, including the principal stresses, wellbore orientation, and perforation configuration on fracture geometry. Initiation pressures, the contact between arbitrarily oriented wells and the fracture plane, and the near-well fracture geometry are determined and discussed. This study also shows that because of the near-well stress concentration the fracture width at the wellbore is always smaller than the maximum fracture width. This can have important consequences during hydraulic fracturing.
