Patent attributes
A method of enhancing conductivity within a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir by building proppant pillars in a spatial arrangement in fractures created or enlarged in the reservoir. Two fluids of differing viscosity and stability are simultaneously pumped into the reservoir. The fluids contain identical proppants which include a proppant which is neutrally buoyant in the fluid and a proppant which is not neutrally buoyant in the fluid. Vertically extending pillars are created within the formation when the fluids are destabilized and the heavier proppant is then released from the destabilized fluids. The area between the pillars may be held open by the presence of the neutrally buoyant proppant in the remaining fluid. Fluid produced from the hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir is then flowed at least partially through channels between the vertically extending pillars.
