Case Study: West Texas Operating Company maps natural fractures and improves stimulation with SLB's 3D Far-Field Sonic Service

Workflow combines high-resolution sonic and resistivity imaging for optimizing completion design and hydraulic fracturing

SLB worked with West Texas Operating Company, an operator in West Texas that needed to understand the distribution of natural fractures along a lateral wellbore to improve completion design and production. The challenge was that conventional borehole images could show only fractures intersecting the wellbore, leaving fracture length, height, and 3D fracture corridors poorly defined.

SLB used a combined workflow of the Sonic Scanner acoustic scanning platform and Quanta Geo microresistivity imaging service, then applied 3D far-field sonic service to build a high-resolution 3D picture of formation features around the well. The solution mapped natural fractures up to 40 ft from the wellbore, including fractures that did not intersect the borehole, and enabled the operator to import the fracture data into reservoir models to improve fracturing and stimulation operations.