ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
The Gas Research Institute's (GRI) fourth Staged Field Experiment (SFE No. 4) well was drilled as part of a field-based research program that has been conducted in the Frontier formation of southwest Wyoming. During this experiment, data were collected from whole cores, multiple sets of openhole logs, in-situ stress measurements, microseismic surveys, and multiple injection (mini-frac) tests.1 These comprehensive data sets have been used to fully describe the Frontier sandstone. This paper summarizes the analysis of abnormally high fracture treating pressures that were observed on SFE No. 4.
Over the past two decades, the analysis of the net or excess pressure has become an important diagnostic tool for the petroleum engineer to evaluate hydraulic fracture treatments. The technique was introduced to the industry by Nolte and Smith2 and has been used in many situations to diagnose fracture growth patterns. Net pressure analysis can also be used to categorize formation types based on their net pressure response.3 Abnormally high fracture pressures encountered in certain formations have also been evaluated with this method4
It was evident from the initial injection tests on SFE No. 4 that the injection pressure was noticeably higher than other wells in the area.5-9 Due to this high injection pressure, a series of diagnostic injection tests was developed to evaluate the cause of the high pressure. These tests indicated the high injection pressures were caused in part by high near wellbore friction. We also saw evidence of high net pressures in the fracture, indicating that multiple fractures were propagating simultaneously.
