The Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site Program: A Successful Partnership to Advance the Science of Hydraulic Fracturing in the Permian Basin
The Hydraulic Fracturing Test Sites (HFTS) are an integrated data-driven hydraulic fracture
diagnostic field pilots funded by the US Department of Energy and the oil/gas industry. The
projects' main objective is to capture the hydraulic fracturing process through use of advanced
diagnostics and collection of through-fracture cores to provide undisputable evidence and
attributes of the created hydraulic fractures.
At the HFTS I and II test sites in the Permian Midland and Delaware basins, three slant core wells
were drilled through created hydraulic fractures and over 1,800 feet of core was recovered,
capturing thousands of hydraulic fractures in their natural state, as well as deposited proppant.
Proppant detection and quantification capabilities enabled collection of a proppant-log in a in-fill/
child well, provided insight on proppant distribution in the created fracture geometry.
Data from the through-fracture cores captured at the HFTS I and II provide direct evidence of the
created hydraulic fractures and proppant distribution. The findings are challenging the
understanding and current modeling capabilities of hydraulic fracture geometry, fracture
propagation, and proppant distribution. Results from these field pilots are applicable to the global
stacked-pay shale resources and provide for the foundation for the Environmentally Prudent
Development of stacked-pay Unconventional Resources.
This presentation provides results from the slant core wells and implications on future
unconventional well development.