الفهرس 
Chapter One - IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
“When everything else fails, frac it.”, this saying was often used in by most of engineers who are working on hydraulic fracturing during the late 1970s. This statement indicates how important is the hydraulic fracturing technique not only in stimulating the well’s production and increase it greatly but also as a powerful tool to manage the field development. Hydraulic fracturing has become the most applicable and reliable reservoir stimulation technique in all reservoir rocks types, even more than the matrix acidizing techniques. In recent days, the unconventional reservoirs have become very important source of hydrocarbon, although these rocks have very low permeabilities that can reach nano Darcies, and the only way to unlock this hydrocarbon potential is by hydraulic fracturing these rocks. Starting from 1940’s, when the first hydraulic fracture was performed, till now and the improvement in the hydraulic fracturing technology has never stopped. As the operation of hydraulic fracturing started very simply by using the natural sand as the propping agent to keep the fracture open. And that propping agent was carried and pumped into the formation by using gelled fluid. In 1980’s, the technology of foam frac has come to pass. And this technology improved greatly the fracture conductivity as it replaced part of the fracturing liquid with inert gas, whether it is nitrogen or carbon dioxide, and so the amount of the fracturing liquid that enters the formation is reduced, which means less damage to the formation. And finally, we have reached to the state-ofthe- art technology in hydraulic fracturing. This is the channel fracturing technology, in other words pillar frac. It is actually a unique technique of pumping the treatment that helps in forming channels within the proppant packing in the frac. Then it potentially improves the fracture conductivity and well productivity. This thesis is dedicated to evaluate the channel fracturing technique and compare between it and the conventional fracturing technique. In this study, three methods will be used to compare between the two techniques. Firstly, using well testing data that was obtained for conventionally fractured wells and wells in which the new technology was implemented. And by applying well test equations, several results can be obtained. Secondly, using the actual production data for offset wells, which were fractured either by conventional way or the new channel fracturing way. And finally, the economical comparison and beneficial gain that can be obtained from the new channel fracturing technique over the conventional one. After making all these studies and calculations, several results are obtained and it gives full images, crystal clear conclusions and full judgment on this new fracturing technique. It is found that the new fracturing technique has really added several operational, economical and production values, which the conventional technique has failed to give in most fields, where this new technique was implemented compared with the conventional fracturing technique.