This paper summarizes key engineering discoveries and technical findings observed during the execution of 200 hydraulic-fracturing diagnostic injection tests in the Raageshwari Deep Gas (RDG) Field in the southern Barmer Basin of India (Fig. 1 above). These tests were conducted in one of the few commercially viable thick and laminated volcanic gas reservoirs in the world. These diagnostic tests were spread over five separate campaigns over 11 years.
Introduction
Because of the low permeability of this gas reservoir, hydraulic fracturing was necessary for sustained economic productivity. Because this massive laminated reservoir contained between 15 and 40 vertically separated pay sections, a key design consideration was to connect as much pay as possible with the least number of fracturing stages.
Although a conventional plug-and-perforation fracturing technique gives full assurance of optimal fractures for every bit of pay, the completion cost would undermine the project’s economics. Therefore, a limited-entry technique was selected.
