Pumping Fluid To Seal A Subterranean Fracture

摘要

The disclosure teaches a method of sealing fractures in a wellbore wherein the steps comprise pumping a first sealing fluid into a wellbore under pressure, monitoring the hydraulic pressure of the sealing fluid in the wellbore for an indicator of seal initialization, stopping the pumping of fluid into the wellbore, monitoring the hydraulic pressure of the sealing fluid in the wellbore, and pumping a second sealing fluid into the wellbore. The disclosure also includes the method wherein the concentration of sealing materials in the first fluid is greater than the concentration of sealing materials in the second fluid and the method wherein the first sealing fluid contains a higher concentration of larger diameter sealing materials than the second sealing fluid. The disclosure also includes a method wherein the pumping rate change between the first pumping of sealing fluid and the pumping of the second sealing fluid. The first and second sealing fluids can be the same. The sealing materials of a sealing fluid are selected such that some of the sealing materials are larger than an estimated original fracture size.

主权项

1. A method of placing a sealing fluid into a subterranean fracture connecting to a wellbore to seal the fracture proximate to the wellbore comprising the following steps:
a) pumping a large volume of the sealing fluid into the fracture at a high pump rate; b) stopping the pumping and waiting for a seal to initialize; c) resuming pumping a small volume of the sealing fluid into the fracture at a low pump rate; and d) stopping pumping.