PatentsDB

Fracture monitoring

US8950482B2 · US · B2

Patent metadata
FieldValue
Publication numberUS-8950482-B2
Application numberUS-201013320882-A
CountryUS
Kind codeB2
Filing dateMay 27, 2010
Priority dateMay 27, 2009
Publication dateFeb 10, 2015
Grant dateFeb 10, 2015

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  1. Title

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  2. Abstract

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  3. Assignees and inventors

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  4. Key dates

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  5. First independent claim

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  6. CPC / IPC classifications

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  7. Citations and related patents

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Abstract

Official abstract text for this publication.

This application relates to methods and apparatus for monitoring hydraulic fracturing during oil/gas well formation. A fiber optic cable (102) deployed down a well bore (106), which may be the well bore in which fracturing is performed, is interrogated to provide a distributed acoustic sensor. Data is sampled from at least one longitudinal sensing portion of the fiber and processed to provide at least fracturing characteristic. The fracturing characteristic may comprise the characteristics of high frequency transients indicative of fracturing events (606). The intensity, frequency, duration and signal evolution of the transients may be monitored to provide the fracturing characteristic. Additionally or alternatively the fracturing characteristic may comprise the longer term acoustic noise generated by fracture fluid flow to the fracture sites. The intensity and frequency of the noise may be analyzed to determine the fracturing characteristic. The method allows real-time control of the fracturing process.

First claim

Opening claim text (preview).

The invention claimed is: 1. A method of downhole monitoring of hydraulic fracturing comprising the steps of: interrogating an optic fibre arranged down the path of a well bore to provide a distributed acoustic sensor, sampling data from a plurality of longitudinal portions of the fibre; and processing said data to provide an indication of at least one fracturing characteristic wherein the indication of at least one fracturing characteristic comprises an indication of at least…

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Frequently asked questions

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What does patent US8950482B2 cover?
This application relates to methods and apparatus for monitoring hydraulic fracturing during oil/gas well formation. A fiber optic cable (102) deployed down a well bore (106), which may be the well bore in which fracturing is performed, is interrogated to provide a distributed acoustic sensor. Data is sampled from at least one longitudinal sensing portion of the fiber and processed to provide a…
Who is the assignee on this patent?
Hill David John, Mcewen-King Magnus, Tindell Patrick, and 1 more
What technology area does this patent fall under?
Primary CPC classification E21B47/107. Mapped technology areas include Fixed Constructions.
When was this patent published?
Publication date Tue Feb 10 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (B2). Legal status and post-grant events are not shown on this page.
What related patents are in patentsdb?
We list 8 related publications on this page (citations in our corpus or others sharing the same primary CPC).