Method and gravel packing open holes above fracturing pressure

摘要

The present invention provides a method for gravel packing a open-hole wellbore having a filter cake, comprising pumping a gravel slurry into a first portion of an annulus between the wellbore and a screen, at a sufficient rate and pressure to form at least a first fracture and diverting the gravel slurry to a second portion of said annulus through alternate flowpaths while providing hydraulic isolation between the first and the second portion of said interval, thereby preventing flowback from said second portion to said first portion and resulting extension of the first fracture, and thereby forming a second fracture in said second portion of said interval.