Acquiring formation fluid samples using micro-fracturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10982539-B2
Application number	US-201616308857-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 29, 2016
Priority date	Jul 29, 2016
Publication date	Apr 20, 2021
Grant date	Apr 20, 2021

Abstract

A formation-tester tool may be positioned downhole in an openhole wellbore. The formation-tester tool may suspend proppant in fracturing fluid located in a chamber of the formation-tester tool. The formation-tester tool may generate a test fracture in an uncased wall of an area of interest of a subterranean formation adjacent to the openhole wellbore and inject the fracturing fluid and the proppant toward the uncased wall and into the test fracture. The formation-tester tool may retrieve a fluid sample from a reservoir within the area of interest of the subterranean formation by creating a drawdown pressure in the test fracture.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
suspending, by a formation-tester tool positioned downhole in an openhole wellbore, proppant in fracturing fluid located in a chamber of the formation-tester tool, wherein suspending the proppant includes moving an agitation ball positioned within the chamber within the fracturing fluid;
generating, by the formation-tester tool, a test fracture in an uncased wall of an area of interest of a subterranean formation adjacent to the openhole wellbore;
injecting, by the formation-tester tool, the fracturing fluid and the proppant toward the uncased wall and into the test fracture; and
retrieving, by the formation-tester tool, a fluid sample from a reservoir within the area of interest of the subterranean formation by creating a drawdown pressure in the test fracture.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the formation-tester tool is positioned downhole in the openhole wellbore on a wireline,
wherein suspending the proppant in the fracturing fluid located in the chamber of the formation-tester tool further includes, prior to generating the test fracture, agitating the fracturing fluid by moving the chamber of the formation-tester tool, for at least one interval, in an uphole direction and in an opposing direction in succession.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the formation-tester tool moves in the uphole direction at a first rate and moves in the opposing direction at a second rate,
wherein the first rate is a different rate than the second rate.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fracturing fluid located in the chamber of the formation-tester tool includes a non-Newtonian fluid,
wherein moving, by the formation-tester tool, applies a shear stress onto the fracturing fluid located in the chamber to lower a viscosity of the fracturing fluid.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein suspending the proppant in the fracturing fluid located in the chamber of the formation-tester tool includes, prior to generating the test fracture, transmitting, by an acoustic resonance section of the formation-tester tool, an acoustic wave to cause the chamber of the formation-tester tool to vibrate and the fracturing fluid to move.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fracturing fluid includes a gelling agent,
wherein suspending the proppant in the fracturing fluid located in the chamber of the formation-tester tool includes:
injecting a breaker fluid into the chamber to decrease a viscosity of the fracturing fluid prior to injecting the fracturing fluid into the test fracture; and

extracting the fracturing fluid and the proppant from the chamber prior to the proppant settling in the chamber.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein injecting the fracturing fluid and the proppant toward the uncased wall and into the test fracture includes injecting the fracturing fluid into the test fracture at a rate of between 0.001 barrels per minute and 0.1 barrels per minute.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein creating the drawdown pressure in the test fracture includes reversing a pumping direction of the fracturing fluid.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subterranean formation is a shale formation.

10. A formation-tester tool, comprising:
one or more chambers positioned in a first section of the formation-tester tool and sized to include fracturing fluid and proppant;
a nozzle positionable proximate to an uncased wall of an openhole wellbore adjacent to an area of interest of a subterranean formation including a reservoir;
an acoustic resonance device having a transmitter to transmit acoustic waves at a frequency that causes the one or more chambers to vibrate and agitate the fracturing fluid; and
a pump positioned in a second section of the formation-tester tool, the pump being in hydraulic communication with the one or more chambers by a feedline extending between the first section and the second section to inject the fracturing fluid and the proppant from the one or more chambers into a test fracture of the area of interest of the subterranean formation, the test fracture being sized to prevent the openhole wellbore from destabilizing,
wherein the pump is further in fluid communication with the nozzle via the feedline to retrieve a fluid sample from the reservoir within the area of interest by creating a drawdown pressure in the test fracture through the nozzle and storing the fluid sample in one or more additional chambers positioned in a third section of the formation-tester tool.

11. The formation-tester tool of claim 10 , further comprising an agitation ball positionable in at least one chamber of the one or more chambers to agitate the fracturing fluid and the proppant.

12. The formation-tester tool of claim 10 , further comprising the fracturing fluid in the one or more chambers, wherein the fracturing fluid includes a gelling agent causing the fracturing fluid to have a viscosity to suspend the proppant in the fracturing fluid.

13. The formation-tester tool of claim 10 , further comprising the fracturing fluid in the one or more chambers, wherein the fracturing fluid includes a shear-rate-dependent viscosity,
wherein the formation-tester tool is positioned on a wireline and operable to apply a shear stress onto the fracturing fluid to lower a viscosity of the fracturing fluid in response to a movement of the wireline.

14. The formation-tester tool of claim 10 , wherein the pump is a double-acting, reciprocating pump operable to exert a first pressure in a first direction toward the uncased wall and a second pressure in an opposite direction of the first direction.

15. The formation-tester tool of claim 10 , further comprising the proppant in the one or more chambers, wherein the proppant includes a standard mesh size between 100 and 325 mesh.

16. A method, comprising:
positioning a formation-tester tool in an openhole wellbore proximate to an area of interest of a subterranean formation adjacent to the openhole wellbore;
moving the formation-tester tool in a first direction and in a second direction opposite the first direction in succession to cause the formation-tester tool to agitate proppant-laden fracturing fluid located in a first chamber of the formation-tester tool, prior to the proppant-laden fracturing fluid being injected into a fracture in the subterranean formation;
injecting the proppant-laden fracturing fluid into the fracture of the subterranean formation; and
retrieving, subsequent to the formation-tester tool injecting the proppant-laden fracturing fluid into the fracture, the formation-tester tool from the openhole wellbore with a sample of formation fluid located in a second chamber of the formation-tester tool, the sample being extracted by the formation-tester tool from the subterranean formation through the fracture.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first direction includes one of an uphole direction toward a surface of the openhole wellbore or a downhole direction away from the surface of the openhole wellbore,
wherein the proppant-laden fracturing fluid includes an agitation ball positioned in the first chamber,
wherein moving the formation-tester tool in the first direction and in the second direction in succession includes causing the formation-tester tool to agitate the proppant-laden fracturing fluid by causing the agitation ball to move within the first chamber.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the proppant-laden fracturing fluid includes a shear-dependent viscosity,
wherein moving the formation-tester tool in the first direction and in the second direction in succession i

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Khan Waqar Ahmad
• Hamza Syed Muhammad Farrukh
• Ramakrishna Sandeep

Classifications

• E21B27/02

  Dump bailers, i.e. containers for depositing substances, e.g. cement or acids · CPC title

• E21B43/267

  reinforcing fractures by propping · CPC title

• E21B49/10 Primary

  using side-wall fluid samplers or testers · CPC title

• E21B43/26

  by forming crevices or fractures · CPC title