Method And Apparatus For Hydraulic Fracturing And Monitoring

Abstract

A technique that is usable with a well includes deploying an assembly into a wellbore. The assembly includes at least one sensor. A fracturing fluid is injected under pressure into the wellbore to hydraulically fracture a subterranean formation of interest. The technique includes isolating the sensor from the fracturing and measuring acoustical energy that is generated by the hydraulic fracturing using the sensor(s).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a well according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a sensor sonde according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram depicting a technique to monitor acoustical energy that is generated by hydraulic fracturing according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting a technique to perform hydraulic fracturing in different zones of a well and monitor the fracturing according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting a technique to monitor acoustical energy that is generated by hydraulic fracturing according to an embodiment of the invention.

Claims

1. A method usable with a well, comprising: deploying an assembly into a wellbore, the assembly comprising at least one sensor;injecting a fracturing fluid under pressure into the wellbore to hydraulically fracture a subterranean formation of interest;isolating the sensor from the fracturing; andmeasuring acoustical energy generated by the hydraulic fracturing using said at least one sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the isolating comprises setting a packer of the assembly.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: positioning said at least one sensor below the packer.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: releasing the packer;repositioning the borehole assembly in the wellbore; andrepeating the injecting and isolating.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the deploying comprises deploying the assembly on a string, the method further comprising disposing a communication line inside the string to establish communication between said at least one sensor and the surface of the well.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one sensor comprises a plurality of sensors, the method further comprising: spacing the sensors along the wellbore.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising: retrieving the assembly from the wellbore.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the measuring occurs concurrently with the injecting.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing data indicative of the acoustical energy measured by by said at least one sensor in a memory of the assembly; andretrieving the data from the memory after the assembly is retrieved from the well.

10. A method for monitoring hydraulic fracturing comprising: a) deploying a borehole assembly into a wellbore on a coiled tubing having a communication line disposed therein, the borehole assembly comprising borehole monitoring assembly positioned below a packer, the borehole monitoring assembly comprising at least one acoustic energy sensor;b) placing the borehole assembly below a subterranean formation of interest, c) setting the packer below the subterranean formation of interest;d) injecting a fracturing fluid under pressure down the annulus, thereby hydraulically fracturing the subterranean formation of interest; ande) using the acoustic energy sensor to make a measurement of acoustical energy generated by the hydraulic fracturing.

11. The method of claim 10, further wherein the communication line is selected from the group consisting of wireline, slickline, fiber optics and a fiber optic tether.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the borehole monitoring assembly comprises more than one sensor, the sensors being spaced along the wellbore, the sensors being separated from the subterranean formation by the packer.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps (f) of releasing the packer and (g) moving the borehole assembly in the wellbore, wherein steps (b) through (f) are repeated.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the acoustical energy measurement comprises communicating via the communication line.

15. The method of claim 14, further wherein the step of injecting a fracturing fluid comprises modifying based on the acoustical energy measurement.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising retrieving the borehole assembly from the wellbore.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising establishing a fracturing model and updating the fracturing model using at least one acoustical energy measurement.

18. An wellbore apparatus for hydraulic fracture monitoring comprising a borehole assembly deployed on coiled tubing, the assembly having a tool body with a least one acoustic energy sensor disposed therein, an isolation device, and at least one washout port adjacent to the isolation device,the assembly being connected to coiled tubing having a communication line disposed therein.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the at least one acoustic energy sensor comprises selected from the group consisting of geophone, hydrophone, and accelerometer.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the isolation device comprises a packer.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising means to process data from the acoustical energy sensor.

22. An apparatus usable with a well, comprising: a tool body;an isolation device disposed on the tool body;at least one acoustic sensor disposed on the tool body to monitor hydraulic fracturing.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said at least one acoustic sensor comprises at least one of a geophone, hydrophone and accelerometer.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising: a string to convey the isolation device and said at least one acoustic sensor downhole as a unit.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising: a remotely-activated connector to selectively connect the isolation device to a tubular string.

26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the isolation device comprises a packer.

27. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising: a memory connected to and deployed downhole with the tool body to store data provided by said at least one sensor such that the data is retrieved from the memory after the apparatus is retrieved from the well.

28. A method for monitoring hydraulic fracturing comprising: a) deploying a borehole assembly into a wellbore, the borehole assembly comprising a borehole monitoring assembly having at least one acoustic energy sensor;b) injecting a fracturing fluid under pressure, thereby hydraulically fracturing a subterranean formation of interest; andc) using the acoustic energy sensor to make a measurement of acoustical energy.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the borehole assembly further comprises a supplemental sensor.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the fracturing fluid comprises an acoustical energy generating element.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the fracturing fluid comprises a noisy proppant.

32. The method of claim 28, further comprising the steps (e) of moving the borehole assembly in the wellbore, wherein steps (b) through (c) are repeated.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein the supplemental sensor is an acoustic energy sensor.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of using the output from the supplemental sensor in processing the measurement of acoustic energy.

35. The method of claim 28, further comprising the orientating the borehole assembly.