Patent ID: 11885205
Assignee: SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY
Field: Civil engineering (Other fields)
Classification: CPC E | IPC E

Claim 9:
10. A method for fracturing a formation, the method comprising:
drilling a wellbore into the formation;
measuring a permeability and a thickness of a filter cake formed by a first drilling mud;
measuring a permeability of the formation;
selecting a breakdown pressure model from at least three breakdown pressure models based on (i) the thickness of the filter cake, (ii) the permeability of the filter cake, and (iii) the permeability of the formation, wherein at least one of the at least three breakdown pressure models accounts for a time-dependent permeability of the filter cake and a time-dependent thickness of the filter cake;
using the selected breakdown pressure model to predict the breakdown pressure of the formation;
determining a critical mud weight based on the predicted breakdown pressure; and
pumping a second drilling mud into the wellbore to fracture the formation, the second drilling mud having a mud weight within 10% of the critical mud weight.