Paper: The Identification of Natural Fractures and Their Orientations In The SpraberryDean Formations In West Texas

Recent improvements in the Borehole Televiewer logging field have enabled oil operators to determine the presence of natural fractures and their orientations in the Spraberry and Dean Formations. Running modern open hole logs over the Spraberry and Dean zones is rarely done when these zones are the primary target zone of a well. However, the need for determining the natural fracture direction is important to the oil operator so he can optimize his offset locations with respect to the trend of the natural fracture system. Defining the trend of the fracture system is particularly important since many Spraberry/Dean wells are drilled on 40 acre spacing and are candidates for waterflood projects in many areas. The following examples document the utility of the Borehole Televiewer in both evaluating the subject formations for hydrocarbon production and optimizing the hydraulic fracture stimulation design for achieving maximum oil production.