ABSTRACT
The art of creating fractures in another direction has been a feat attempted since the mid-1970s. The injection hesitation method was first attempted with some success (Kiel 1977), where a fracture could be created using pressurization followed by reversing flow. This was claimed to cause spalling of the fracture face, which, in turn, combined with plugging of the fracture tip, would cause dendritic fractures to occur. A decade later, Warpinski & Branagan (1989) discussed altered stress fracturing, where stresses in the formation were modified by developing fractures, pioneering the scientific community to research multi-direction fracture-placement technologies. During this test, however, only 1.7MPa stress increase was observed, thus proving the viability of the concept in formations with less horizontal stress contrast (it was noted that the stress contrast in the field was 4.14MPa). Reduction in distance between wells was mentioned as another factor necessary to improve stress modification. Eleven years later, a large team sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) performed multiple injections of drill cuttings (Moschovidis et al. 2000) and found that each subsequent injection creates a fracture that is somewhat redirected, likely caused by the support of the previous fracture by the drill cuttings.
