Patent ID: 11899155
Assignee: CENOVUS ENERGY INC.
Field: Civil engineering (Other fields)
Classification: CPC G  E | IPC E  G

Claim 14:
15. A method of fracturing a hydrocarbon deposit, comprising:
imaging a geologic formation surrounding a borehole using a downhole tool within the borehole, the imaging along an axial length of the borehole within the geologic formation, and the imaging creates an image indicative of natural fractures within the geologic formation, wherein the imaging comprises focusing an outbound acoustic energy, launched from the downhole tool, on a volume within the geologic formation spaced away from the borehole, and the focusing creates a virtual point source from which a return acoustic energy propagates, wherein the volume of the virtual point source experiences a pressure change due to constructive wave interference of acoustic waves at the volume, and receiving the return acoustic energy, wherein the focusing of the outbound acoustic energy creates the virtual point source using beamforming that emits the outbound acoustic energy from the downhole tool;
identifying, within the image, fractures conducive to hydrocarbon production;
correlating the fractures conducive to hydrocarbon production to fracture zones along the axial length, wherein each fracture zone spans a portion of the axial length, and collectively the fracture zones are less than the axial length; and
hydraulic fracturing one or more of the fracture zones and refraining from hydraulic fracturing at least some remaining zones outside the fracture zones.