Tip screenout fracturing applied to the Ravenspurn South gas field development

Abstract

Tip screenout (TS) fracturing is a means of creating greater propped fracture widths and hence fracture conductivities than can be achieved by conventional fracture treatments. This allows more cost-effective stimulations of higher-permeability reservoirs, especially where non-Darcy pressure losses are significant. This paper presents a procedure to design TSO schedules and reviews field results from the Ravenspurn South gas field, which was developed between 1988 and 1989. Evidence is provided to support the view that TSO pressure responses are indeed the result of processes occurring close to the fracture tip, rather than slurry-enhanced viscosity effects along the fracture length.