Paper: Technology Enhances Canyon Frac Fluid Recovery and Productivity

The main purpose of staged fracture treatments is to selectively treat all the zones of interest in place of a collective treatment. Historically, cast iron bridge plugs were used for isolation of previously treated zones. After all desired intervals were stimulated, the plugs were drilled and the well brought on to production. However, cast iron bridge plugs do not allow the lower zones to be flowed back until the plugs are drilled out of the well bore. In the Sonora Area Field in West Texas (Sutton County), an operator was encountering a lower percentage of fracturing fluids recovered and decreased initial production rates. A new method of zonal isolation, which included immediate flow-back, was successfully tried and adopted to solve this problem. This method using composite bridge plugs achieved an improved flow-back of fracturing fluids and enhanced the wells productivity. This paper will detail how this problem was successfully addressed.