Patent ID: 7866395

Claim:
A method for creating a vertical hydraulic fracture in a formation of unconsolidated and weakly cemented sediments, comprising: a. drilling a bore hole in the formation to a predetermined depth; b. installing an injection casing having at least two passages individually connected to a fracture fluid pumping system in the bore hole at the predetermined depth; c. establishing at least two pipes through which a foam fracture fluid can be separately injected into a corresponding number of passages within the injection casing; d. dilating the injection casing and the formation in a preferential direction; e. injecting foam fracture fluid separately and independently into one or both of said pipes and into the passages within the injection casing and into individual opposing wings of a fracture or into only one of two wings with sufficient fracturing pressure to initiate a vertical fracture at an azimuth orthogonal to the direction of dilation, thereby controlling a geometry of the hydraulic fracture in one or both of said wings in either a symmetrical or an asymmetrical fashion; and f. extracting fluids from the formation through the injection casing.